Counter Clockwise
by alphakkc
Summary: The XCOM project is not going well. Earth is on the brink of being conquered by the aliens. It is at this time the commander of XCOM, Darius Lee, discovers that there might be a way of preventing the end of civilization as we know it. The only problem is that this improbable solution comes from the most unlikely source. Will he take it? NOTE : Based on the new XCOM (2012) game.
1. Chapter 1

**Counter Clockwise**

**An XCOM Fan Fiction**

**Chapter 1**

"I'm going in!" Darius Lee, call sign 'Stomper' called into his radio to his squad as he prepared to open the door to the bridge of the downed UFO. He hit the button and the multi-coloured mottled energy barrier that serves as a door in the alien ship disappeared with a whoosh. Stomper looked into the bridge and saw two Sectoids inside, cowering behind a console.

"Contact! 2 Xrays in sight!" Stomper reported and dashed inside. The Sectoids opened fire with their plasma pistols. Stomper felt the heat from the searing plasma shots passing just above his head. The shots missed. Stomper sprinted for a console that offered him some cover and dove behind it.

He felt one of the plasma shot hit the console but his cover was sturdy enough to block the shot. Quickly getting his feet under him, he peered over the cover and saw the Sectoid running from behind his cover. Stomper raised his laser rifle and pulled the trigger. The red beam caught the Sectoid square in the torso. The alien went down with a high pitched shriek. Stomper quickly searched for the second Sectoid, the gray skinned, almond shaped eyes alien.

"Got him in my sights!" Sargeant Tanner's voice called out through his headset and Stomper saw a salvo of laser shots streaking into the room and hit something behind a large console just opposite where he was. Another shriek was heard and Tanner announced his kill with the familiar "Xray down!"

The room fell into an eerie silence after that. Stomper was the only operative in the bridge. The others were outside the door. He looked at the motion sensor on his wrist com strapped to his left wrist. For a split second he thought he saw a blip on the screen showing something inside the bridge. He scanned the room with his eyes and saw nothing. Going back to his sensor also yielded nothing. He kept looking at the sensor for another 2 seconds. Nothing.

"No contacts," he whispered into his radio headset.

"No readings," came the reply from Tanner. "I'm moving in!"

"Roger that," Stomper replied and he watched the space inside the bridge. "I've got you covered!" he continued and Tanner dashed into the room and headed for cover. There were no contacts.

"I think we nailed all of them," Tanner reported.

Stomper was satisfied after another glance at his motion sensor. Nothing is moving except his squad members. He decided to call it.

"Alright! Bridge secure," he said coming out from behind the console he was crouched behind. Tanner similarly came out from cover.

"Strike One Alpha to Central," Stomper reported. "Operation was a success. All hostiles neutralized."

"Strike One Alpha, this is Central," a familiar voice came over the radio. It was Central Officer Bradford. "Nice job down there. You're cleared to return to base. I'm sending in the clean-up crew."

"Copy that Central. Strike One Alpha out," Stomper said as he gave the bridge a last look around. Tanner was already heading out the door. The 2 dead Sectoids were motionless on the floor. Something struck Stomper as strange but he couldn't put his finger on it. As he headed towards the door, he suddenly realized what it was. They had not come across the commander of the UFO like in the other crashed UFO raids.

As he was about to call this in something dropped from above onto him. The weight threw him onto the floor face first. He lost his grip on his laser rifle and it clattered a few feet away from him. Darius' heart sank. Without even seeing his assailant, he knew that this was the Sectoid commander that was missing. As he turned his head sideways to look, the large gray skinned head that greeted his eyes confirmed his fear.

Darius found himself looking into the large almond shaped eyes of his enemy. As he was about to call for help he saw the alien eyes that was looking into him seemed to radiate a kind of sadness that he had never seen before. Then he felt his mind being invaded. The alien was using its psionic powers on him. Images began flooding into his mind. He screamed.

He heard chatter on his radio headset but he could not make out the words. Strange images continued to flood into his mind. He let out another scream. Then it suddenly stopped and Darius found the alien now lying dead beside him on the floor, its brains shot out.

"You alright captain?" came the voice over his radio. He felt strong hands pulling him up into a sitting position. It was Rookie Zaytsev. This was Zaytsev's first mission and he was had just shot the Sectoid commander off his squad's captain.

"You alright, sir?" Zaytsev asked again, looking concerned.

"Yeah! Yeah!" Darius replied, still a bit disoriented. "I'm fine. Thanks."

Darius looked down at the dead Sectiod commander again. The eyes suddenly came alive and the alien jumped at him. Darius screamed and sat bolt upright inside his darkened room. He gasped for breath as he looked around. Four windowless gray colored walls; a desk with a chair to his left; a computer terminal on the desk; a door to the bathroom opposite the bed; a wall closet and a door that led outside the room to his right greeted him. It was his room all right. He found himself bathed in sweat as he tried to get his racing heart to slow.

He buried his face into his hands. It's that nightmare again. After he had calmed down somewhat, he glanced at the clock on his bedside drawer. The led displayed showed 4.23am, October 3rd 2062. In another 35 minutes or so the alarm will go off. Darius decided to get out of bed. He won't be getting anymore sleep now. He went to into the adjoined bathroom and flipped on the lights. Turning the tap he scooped up some water with his hands and splashed them onto his face. The stinging coldness drove the last of the sleep from him. The water ran off his face and down onto his bare chest and wetted his pajama bottom.

He looked into the mirror. A wet face stared back. Darius' hair had streaks of gray in them and he still had 3 years to go before he hit the big 40 but being the commander of the XCOM didn't help his looks. Even though he was Asian, Darius had high cheekbones and facial features that made him look more like a European. If not for his black hair and dark brown eyes, he could easily pass as a European.

XCOM or _eXtra terrestrial COMbat_ is a paramilitary organization set up to deal with the alien invasion that started late in 2060. Alien invaders had appeared and started to openly abduct people or conducted terror raids around the globe. XCOM was initially funded collectively by 16 nations around the world. The aim was to get the best of the best in terms of military experience as well as research and development together to come up with means to fight off the alien invasion.

Darius raised his left hand and reached for the base of neck. His index finger ran over a scar that traced a line just above his right collar bone and continued about halfway round to the back of his neck. It was the scar that the Sectoid commander had left him when he dropped from the ceiling of the UFO bridge. Zaytsev had shot him through the head but in his nightmare, the Sectiod always came back to life and jumped right at him again. He was always jolted awake when that happened.

The wound on his neck had healed but the images that the Sectoid commander had pumped into his head had never faded. In fact they had always been fresh in his mind.

Darius rode the elevator up to sublevel 2 in the 'Ant Farm', that's what the XCOM staff took to calling it. Their base of operations was completely underground and was located somewhere in the jungles of the Republic of Congo in the African continent. It housed all the necessary facilities, a barracks for the soldiers, living quarters for the other staff, an infirmary, research labs, workshops, power generators and even the hangar was underground. The hangar, Mission Control and barracks were at the topmost level, just beneath the ground. Various other facilities came below that. The residential dorms where the non-military staff were housed were somewhere in the middle levels. Currently there were 10 sublevels. As and when needed, they could excavate and dig deeper if they needed more space for new facilities.

The doors of the elevator opened to the same drab grey colored hallways. Utilitarian but functional. Darius stepped out and turned right and headed towards the laboratory. The lab took out most of the space on the right wing of this level, extending from the elevator to almost the end. The only other facility down that way was the Elerium power generator at the very end. Since the generator's function was mostly automated, this wing belonged almost exclusively to the scientific research members.

Walking down the hallway, Darius paused in front of the double doors that led to the main laboratory. He pushed at it and stepped inside. Although the hallways seemed deserted, inside the labs there was a flurry of activities. Computers hummed. Staff was either hunched over terminals or poring over some research papers. Busy was an understatement.

Darius walked into the labs and paused for a while looking over the crowd, searching for someone. He found her huddled with a group of other researchers. He walked over to her.

Dr. Vahlen, head of the scientific research department turned when she heard Darius approaching from behind her.

"Ah, commander," she said after seeing him. "It's rare that we get a visit from you down here so early in the day."

"Dr. Vahlen, you look terrible," Darius commented. "You should get some rest."

Dr. Vahlen was quite an attractive woman. Slim, tall with shoulder length brown hair that is now held up by a pin to the back of her head with stray strands hanging down showing that she had been working long hours. Way too long hours.

"Sleep is a luxury we can ill afford at this time, commander," Dr. Vahlen replied with her usual German accent. "Besides we are at the verge of a breakthrough. The Ethereal alien that the troops brought in recently have provided us some much needed data."

"I guess that means the Psi Labs are showing some results," Darius said to keep Vahlen from rattling off about her work that she usually did.

"Yes, we have re-calibrated the settings and we should be able to train soldiers to use their psionic gifts much better now," she said and paused for a while looking up from her tablet PC at the commander. "That is, if we can find one that is gifted enough to be trained, commander."

"I see," Darius replied nodding slightly. "Very well then, carry on," he concluded and started to leave. As he turned he scanned the room again. He picked out one face among the researchers and ensured that the person had eye contact with him. He then walked out the labs and closed the door behind him.

Cindy Chang caught the commander's eyes as he walked out of the labs. She then hurried to clear her desk and headed to the door herself. It was the end of her shift and no one questioned her leaving. She hurried to the doors and went out into the hallway. It was empty. After making sure that she had closed the doors to the lab firmly and that there was no other person in the hallway, she quickly turned left and headed towards where the Elerium generator was. She walked past the entrance to the generator and turned into a small corridor. It led to the washrooms.

She quickened her steps and after making sure that no one else was around a second time, she pushed at the door and ducked into the men's room.

As she entered she locked the door behind her. Inside hunched over a sink with a running tap was Darius. He was splashing water on his face. Cindy ran towards him and embraced him.

"Oh Darius," she said her voice barely louder than a whisper. "We have to stop meeting like this!"

"I know and I'm sorry," Darius replied and then pushed her away from his chest so that he could look her in the face. "Do you have the report?"

Cindy nodded and reached into her lab coat pocket, pulling out a folded paper. Darius unfolded the paper and looked at it. It contained a bunch of numbers and terms that he did not comprehend. "What does all this mean?" he asked.

Cindy looked him in the eyes. "Your numbers are way off the charts! We haven't seen any candidates having anything that's even close to yours!" she said nervously.

"Then I am psionically gifted," Darius stated what he had feared for some time now.

"Yes!"

"Then the aliens have been trying to communicate with me," Darius said releasing Cindy and turning back to the mirror over the sink. He wasn't sure what this new information alluded to at the moment.

"That is highly possible!" Cindy said. "But why would they want to? Aren't they trying to kill us all?"

"I don't know," Darius admitted as he searched the sink for an answer. "I feel that they want the same thing as us. For the war to end. I.. I just don't know!"

Cindy hugged him from behind. "What do we do?"

Darius had no answer for that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 2**

"What's the status?" Central Officer Bradford asked, looking at the big holographic projection of the globe in the middle of the room. XCOM's mission control. The holographic display in the middle took up most of the room. Around the display, numerous consoles circled it manned by the various operators. Communications and radar consoles formed the bulk of them. Bradford was standing on a raised platform facing the holographic display. On that viewing platform was a single desk with a chair and PC terminal.

"Big Sky 01 is twenty minutes to the drop point," an officer manning one of the various consoles replied.

"Sir!" another officer called out. Bradford looked at the direction where the voice came from. "We've just received another alien abduction alert!" the officer said.

"Location?" Bradford enquired eyes turning back to the globe. A new red icon appeared on the Europe continent.

"Germany, sir!"

"Damn it! We don't have enough troops for all this!" Bradford said his hands gripped the railings on the viewing platform harder.

"Sir? What do I tell them?" the officer enquired.

"Tell them that they will need to handle it themselves for the time being!" Bradford said. He cursed silently. The aliens have stepped up their attacks.

Events involving them have increased all over the world. Bradford was sure that XCOM's successful interception of the large UFO a couple of weeks back had something to do with it. They have also captured a new species along with it. The alien they now call the Ethereal.

With all the increased alerts popping up all over the world, Bradford was the one monitoring the ground troops deployment in Mission Control most of the time as the commander always seemed to be locked in urgent teleconference with the council members every time XCOM fails to respond in a timely fashion to the events. Just the last month XCOM had lost 2 funding nations. Argentina and Egypt had pulled out. That means the money coming in had dropped but the aliens have stepped up their plans. It was a double blow. They were already stretched for resources as it was. Now XCOM only had fund, manpower and resources coming from 10 remaining nations out of the initial 16.

Bradford looked up at the holographic globe again. The Skyranger icon was nearing its destination. "Strike One Alpha, this is Central!" Bradford spoke into his mouthpiece after he dialed in the corresponding channel to the squad in the Skyranger. "The AO is the site of a crashed UFO. Fortunately it has come down in a remote area in the Amazon basin so we do not expect any civilians in the AO. However this thing is large and is by far the largest one that we have intercepted. Expect heavy resistance and be on your highest alert!"

"Roger that Central," came the reply from Major Zaytsev, call sign 'Overseer', the current leader for the squad Strike One Alpha.

"Big Sky 01 has reached the AO, sir!" one of the officers informed.

"Strike One Alpha, this is Central. You are cleared to engage!" Bradford officially green lighted the operation. He then motioned to one officer to his left and the globe display changed to the live feed from the shoulder cameras embedded into each of Strike One Alpha's squad member's armor. Six panels came on display, 2 in a row and 3 deep. At the corner of each camera was the operative's name, rank and call sign.

Cam 1 : Major Zaytsev, Vassili 'Overseer'

Cam 2 : Capt Ryan, Mary 'Rogue'

Cam 3: Capt Barnes, Kelly 'Hex'

Cam 4 : Lt Medina, Allena 'Peacekeeper'

Cam 5 : Rk Ivanov, Tatiana 'Sentinel'

Cam 6 : Rk Kim, Yung-Ho 'Vapour'

###

Major Vassili Zaytsev ran out of the Skyranger, an advanced VTOL aircraft, as soon as the ramp hit the ground. He ran towards the nearest rock he can take cover behind and waited for his squad to completely deploy. The Skyranger swooped upwards back into the clouds a moment later, leaving the squad alone in the forest. The afternoon sun was beating down hard from a clear sky. Sweat trickled down Zaytsev's face but it wasn't due to the heat.

"Central, this is Strike One Alpha," Zaytsev reported. "Beginning operation Broken Boulder now! Squad move in and keep your eyes open!"

"Copy that Strike One Alpha. We will be monitoring from here. Central out," came the reply over the headset. Overseer could see the path of destruction the crashed UFO had made. Uprooted and burning trees pointed to the direction of the downed craft. They weren't kidding when they said the craft was big. Although it had fell out of the sky, the UFO was largely intact bar a few holes in the hull created by the plasma cannon that the interceptor jets fired when engaging the UFO.

Overseer pointed to Rogue, Sentinel and Hex and indicated a direction for them to move towards. Rogue nodded, took point and led the group towards that direction. Overseer led the rest towards the downed craft, heading towards one of the gaping holes in the hull. They moved slowly from cover to cover. Overseer had seen too many operatives die because they moved too far ahead from their squad members. Recklessness will only get you killed when facing the aliens.

He led them to the left of the hole and signaled for the group to halt. He waited for Rogue to indicate that her team was also in position on the right side of the hole.

"Overseer, this is Rogue," came the Captain's voice over the radio. "We are in position."

"Roger that," he replied and readied his plasma sniper rifle. "Move in!"

He saw movement from behind the trees on his right and Rogue dashed up towards the edge of the opening. Peacekeeper ran up to the right edge of the opening. Overseer covered them with his rifle. Rogue peered into the ship and then dashed inside followed closely by Peacekeeper.

"Contact!" Rogue called out. "3 Mutons!"

"Taking fire!" Peacekeeper voice called out. "I'm ok! But they've got me pinned down!"

Overseer quickly peered through his rifle scope. He could see the Mutons through it. The large, brutish and green aliens could take a lot of punishment before going down. Each was the size of a large gorrila and had the strength of 2. One quick turn on the scope and Overseer narrowed the view down to one of them. This was the one dishing out the suppressing fire. Overseer aimed for the head, took a deep breath, held it and squeezed the trigger.

A thin green trail of plasma shot into the interior of the UFO. A roar was heard and the Muton was down. Overseer quickly shifted his aim towards the remaining Mutons but he could not find any still standing.

"Xrays down!" Peacekeeper announced. "No other contacts in sight!"

"Roger that," Overseer replied and signaled Sentinel and Vapour to move in. As the 2 rookies moved into the UFO, he and Hex, the team's other sniper, brought up the squad's tail end. Once inside Overseer saw that they were inside a large chamber that looked like a cargo hold. The 3 Muton corpses laid on the floor. Behind them was a large closed door that led deeper into the alien craft.

"Eyes open people!" Overseer warned. "After that exchange, they know we're here so watch your backs!"

With that warning Overseer slung his sniper rifle over his shoulders and took out his plasma pistol. Close quarter combat never did favor the long, bulky sniper rifle. He ran up to the left side of the large door. As if on cue, Rogue ran up to the right side and Hex found some cover a little ways away from the door and prepped her sniper rifle. Overseer gave his squad a last look over. All their weapons were raised. They were ready to face whatever's behind the door.

Overseer looked over to Rogue and she gave him a nod in response. He hit the button and the door whooshed open. Beyond the doorway lay a huge cargo hold that stretched about 100 meters towards another door that presumably led to the bridge of the UFO. Right on the other side of their door was a raised walkway. A solid metal railing rising about 1.5 meters from the floor lined the walkway. On either side, stairs led down about 3 meters to the main cargo hold. 15 meters from the door was a wide unobstructed walkway that led to a wall and the door on the far side. Lining the walkway on both sides were cargo bays. Crates, containers and all kinds of debris littered the ground from the impact of the crash.

Rogue and Overseer exchanged a knowing glance. He did not like the look of things. Neither did Rogue. From where there were, they could not see what's inside the bays lining the walkway. Everything was quiet. Overseer knew all too well that this was the lull before the storm. He checked the motion sensors on his wrist com. Nothing.

Overseer took a sharp intake of breath. "Go! Go! Go!" he commanded and his squad leapt into action. He ran down the stairs on the left while Rogue went down the other one. Almost immediately he heard beeps coming from his motion sensors. He had anticipated this and crouched behind a large crate.

"We have Floaters!" Hex's voice came over the radio.

Peering from behind his cover Overseer could see that he was halfway towards the first cargo bay on his side to the left. Rogue had managed to reach the wall of the bay on her side. The door on the far side had been opened and 2 Floaters were coming out. These abominations were more mechanic than organic. Unlike the Mutons, Floaters were thin and spindly but they do not have legs. In their place was an alien jet pack of some sort that gave them the ability to hover and fly. This makes them dangerous as they are able to cover large distances in a short amount of time. Apart from the floaters, Overseer also spied 5 Mutons coming out from their hiding places.

"5 Mutons on the ground!" he yelled into his mouthpiece as a trail of plasma streaked past from behind him. Hex had taken out a third Floater that was just coming out from the door at the far end. The Floater exploded. This heralded the start of the battle as plasma shots began criss-crossing the area.

Overseers scanned the room for the remaining Floaters. One of them had hovered to his left. Quickly raising his pistol, he fired a salvo of 3 shots in quick succession at the alien. All 3 connected and the Floater crashed to the ground, out of commission.

"Anyone has visual on the last Floater? That's the priority target!" Overseer said.

"Got it in my sights! Firing now!" Sentinel said and a salvo of heavy plasma shots can be heard. "Damn it! Missed the target! He's heading your way Peacekeeper!"

Damn rookies! Overseer thought. He glanced over to Peacekeeper's position and saw her take out the Floater with her Alloy Cannon, the new shotgun upgraded with alien technology. That thing causes a lot of damage but like the conventional shotgun it's best for short to medium range.

"Floater down!" Peacekeeper announced her kill.

Overseer ducked behind his cover as 2 plasma shots hit the crate. He saw 2 of the Mutons grouped together behind some debris outside a bay to his right. "I need the 2 Mutons to my right taken out now!"

"Roger that," came Vapour's reply. "Rocket away!" he said and a short while later an explosion can be heard. "Mutons down!"

"Rogue! Some cover here! Need to haul my ass away from this crate before they turn me into a pin cushion!" Overseer said.

"Smoke's away!" came Rogue's reply and a smoke grenade detonated a little ways in front Overseer's position. Using the smoke cover, Overseer dashed from the crate towards the wall of the nearest cargo bay. As he took cover behind the metal wall Overseer noticed 2 repair drones coming into view from inside the cargo bay opposite his. A sudden realization hit him. The presence of the drones meant only one thing.

"Sectopod!" Rogue's urgent warning took the words right out of Overseer's mouth.

Peering out from behind the wall he, Overseer saw that the Sectopod, a mecha built by the aliens for just one thing - destruction. It sauntered out from a cargo bay that was at the far end. The thing was the size of a truck and it was all bad news.

"Take cover! Rockets incoming!" Rogue yelled.

Overseer saw the four rockets being launched towards them. The Sectopod need not aim accurately in such a confined area. He quickly ducked behind the wall. Just a second later a section of the wall about a foot from his head was blown away by one of them. The explosion temporarily deafened him and the world seemed to go into an eerie silence. Disoriented for a while Overseer shook his head to clear his mind and forced himself to take stock of the situation. He was at the leftmost side of the cargo hold they were in. One look at the door that they had come through told him Hex was alright as none of the rockets had gone through the door. As if to re-assure him he saw a plasma shot coming out as Hex re-acted.

As he searched for his other squad members he saw that Peacekeeper was down. She was on the floor, her face twisted in agony and hands on one of her legs. At least she was still alive. Rogue was ok. She was scrambling to get up and to get to better cover. Vapour was already aiming his last remaining rocket as a reply to the Sectopod's attack. Sentinel was also returning fire.

The situation was not too bad but if they did not bring the Sectopod down soon, the second salvo would mean certain disaster. Having lost his grip on his plasma pistol, Overseer reached for his sniper rifle. The only good thing about the Sectopod was that with a target this large, it's inherently easier to hit. Wasting no time, he squeezed off a shot instantly. As the shot connected, he saw several other plasma shots landing on the Sectopod as well.

He was glad his squad recognized the threat and responded appropriately. The Sectopod fell and self-destructed.

"... down!" Overseer's hearing began to return.

"My leg! My leg! Arrghh!" came Peacekeeper's voice over the radio.

"Check for any remaining Xrays!" Overseer said, as he fired 2 shots to take out the repair drones he saw earlier. The Sectopod seemed to have taken the last of the Mutons with him when it exploded. "Rogue! Check on Peacekeeper!"

"Roger that!" came Rogue's reply. She was the squad's field medic.

"Vapour! Sentinel! Advance to the door and secure the bridge!" Overseer ordered. Both the rookies were closer to the far door than he was. With his rifle still raised, he quickly and carefully followed behind them, covering their advance. "Hex! Get in here and cover Rogue and Peacekeeper!"

"Roger that, Overseer! Relocating!" came Hex's reply over the radio.

As Overseer saw the 2 rookies neared the door another figure emerged. This one was tall, thin and wore a long red robe and it had four arms. The Ethereal. It had no weapons in its hands but the threat it presented was as great as any.

"Ethereal!" Overseer warned. Vapour immediately fired a salvo from his heavy plasma rifle at it. The shot raced towards the unarmed alien, hit an unseen barrier just inches from the Ethereal and bounced back. The ricocheted plasma shots raced towards Sentinel. The rookie had no time to re-act and she went down.

"Shit! It can do that?" a very surprised Vapour cried out followed by a scream. Vapour fell to his knees and then the scream abruptly ended. He then stood up and turned around. His face was expressionless.

"Damn! He's being mind controlled!" Overseer said. "Hex! Take the shot! Take the shot!" Overseer called out as he saw Vapour turning around. A plasma shot raced past him and scored a hit on the Ethereal. It faltered and let out an unearthly shriek but it was still alive. Vapour was still under its

command and he raised his heavy plasma rifle and aimed it towards where Rogue was.

"Fuck!" Overseer yelled and took aim at Vapour. He pulled the trigger. Vapour went down and as he fell, Overseer saw Hex land her second shot on the Ethereal and it too went down.

After scanning the area again and ensuring that no more aliens were present, Overseer ran towards Sentinel. He was too late, the rookie was gone.

He knew that Vapour was gone too as there was no way their armor could withstand a shot from a plasma sniper rifle. He moved to check the bridge of the UFO but there were no aliens left alive.

###

"Central, this is Strike One Alpha," Overseer's voice came over the communication channel in Mission Control back at the 'Ant Farm'. Cam 5 and Cam 6 on the display had turned to static. That meant the operatives were dead.

Bradford looked at his shoes as he leaned almost bent over putting his weight on both his hands that held onto the railing of the viewing platform. "Go ahead, Strike One Alpha," he said, his voice heavy with sadness.

"Mission accomplished. All hostiles neutralized. Crash site is secure," Overseer's voice reported almost in a monotone. "Two dead and one wounded on our side," he continued aware of the fact that Central already knew that.

"Acknowledged Strike One Alpha," Bradford replied as per standard protocol. "Big Sky 01 is enroute. ETA 5 minutes. Let's get you guys home, over."

"Roger that, Central. Strike One Alpha out."

The display disappeared and the holographic globe image was back on. Bradford followed the icon of the Skyranger VTOL as it reached its destination on the 'Geoscape' as the display is called. He sighed. They were losing operatives faster than they could replace them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 3**

The door to his office flew open and 2 persons barged through. Darius recognized the one in front. He was still in his battle armor and trying to push the other man away from him.

"Sir! You can't just barge in..," the officer behind the armored man said trying his best to pull the intruder away.

Darius held up his hand. The commotion stopped for a while. Darius looked at the officer and nodded, indicating that it was fine. The officer nodded in reply and left the office closing the door behind him. "What can I do for you, Major Zaytsev?" Darius asked motioning to the man in armor to take the seat in front of his desk.

"You know what I want Lee!" Zaytsev boomed as he walked towards Darius' desk and set both hands down forcefully onto the desk making a loud thud as he leaned closer to the commander. He did not bother to sit.

Still in his seat, Darius looked at the Major in the eyes without replying.

"I just lost two of my men out there! Dammit Lee! We can't just throw these rookies at the aliens! They'll all be coming home in body bags!"

"Major, I understand your concern.." Darius started.

"Cut the crap Lee! You and I both know what it's like out there! I need trained men! Hell, I thought things will change around here with you calling the shots!"

"You need trained men? Those that make the list are the best of the best! How in the hell are we supposed to train them? You have any aliens sparring partners lying around, Major?" Darius snapped back, his eyes hard, staring back at the Major's.

Zaytsev banged one fist on the desk, stood up straight and turned around. "Shit!" he knew what Darius was saying was true.

"Look Zaytsev," Darius began again, his voice softer now. "We are all sick of this war but none of us have a choice in this. We are all doing the best we can. Hell from the look of things we may need to enlist the average guy on the street for your battles!"

"That's not funny Lee!" Zaytsev said turning around to face Darius, sounding a lot calmer.

"I know it's not. I'm doing the best I can and I need you to trust me on that. With the aliens stepping up their game and the funding cuts, we can thank our lucky stars that there still food on the table. The Psi Labs are up and running and that may even the odds a little when we find some candidates for the psionic training. They are working on some kind of mind shield or something. That should be able to keep our troops from getting mind zapped so easily by the aliens."

"Hell, I'm glad I'm not fighting your battles," Zaytsev said walking to the door, his anger vented.

"By the way, have you got yourself tested in the Psi labs yet?"

"Going now, sir!" the Major replied as he opened the door, stepped out and closed it behind him.

Darius sighed as he returned to compiling his report to the Council. He missed the old days when he was just a soldier. He missed the days when he and Vassili Zaytsev would go on missions together. They made a great team and things were much simpler then. Back then, you actually knew who your enemies were. Now that he was commander, Darius was not so sure anymore.

Now his battles are fought over the video conference line with faceless people. He remembered the last one just a few days ago. He was in the Situation Room. The usual spokesperson for the Council came on the display in the screen. Darius had never ever seen the face despite their numerous conference calls. All he knew that he was bald and there was always a light shining from behind his head straight into the camera. A shadowy figure for a shadowy council.

"The Council finds the performance of XCOM less than satisfactory, commander," the spokesperson had said. "Argentina and Egypt have decided to withdraw from the council due to the lack of response that XCOM has extended to them when they were facing threats from the aliens."

"Lack of response?" Darius chided. "That's not a fair assessment. Do they even know what has been going on? I do agree that we have not been able to respond to all requests for assistance but we are operating under extreme stress and we are seriously lacking manpower and resources!" he put forth his defense.

"That matter is not up for debate, commander. They have already pulled their funding and will no longer contribute any more resources or financial assistance to XCOM."

"You know very well that the aliens have stepped up their activities. We are doing the best we can. Numerous requests have been made for new recruits and resources but none has been forthcoming. Do you know that we are losing soldiers faster than we can find recruits? Do you know that we have to send jets up there with parts that have been salvaged from wrecks of other jets that have gone down?"

"We are aware of the situation, commander and we have noted your requests. It is difficult for us to justify the cost of fulfilling those requests when XCOM's performance is perceived to be sub par."

"Damn it! How do you propose to fight a war when you don't have soldiers? How do you improve when you are denied the very thing you need to improve?"

"That is your challenge, commander. We do not proclaim to know how to do your job, commander. Oh and by the way, Russia needs a shipment of two dozen light plasma rifles. You had best get your engineers to get that order done as soon as possible."

"That's not possible. We are all tied up with the Psi Labs project at the moment. There is no spare human resource capacity for any other process. They are welcomed to send their own men here and start the fabrication themselves. We can offer the facilities and the technical schemas but it is not possible to spare the manpower," Darius had said, all but refusing to meet the order. He hated doing it. The individual nations that made up the council are supposed to be helping XCOM but it seemed that they are more interested in furthering their own agenda than fighting against the invaders.

"Need I remind you that failure to deliver the shipment will reflect poorly on XCOM's performance?" the spokesperson had given that thinly veiled threat.

"The Psi Labs have top priority at the moment. This has been decided by the council itself. Are you telling me that you or the council member for Russia is willing to push this order up the queue at the expense of the Psi Labs? Or are you telling me how to do my job?" Darius had retorted.

"Very well. The Psi Labs have priority."

Darius had cut the line after that unwilling to discuss anymore. He sometimes wondered who the actual enemies are. Was it the alien invaders or the council itself? Apart from fighting the aliens, they have to fight the whimsical fancies of some members of the council itself. Both had the potential to end civilization as we know it.

###

Cindy poked at the vegetables on her dish with her fork. Even though the cafeteria she was in is far from empty, all she could hear was her own thoughts. Darius had told her to keep his psi test results hidden. No one should know that he's psionically gifted. She had secretly transferred Darius's test results from the production system to the prototype system. Dr. Vahlen had nearly caught her doing that just about an hour ago. She remembered how close it had been:

"What's this?" Dr. Vahlen had said making Cindy almost jump out of her chair. She had not heard her approaching her desk. Dr. Vahlen had then proceeded to pull up the record she was trying to close on her PC.

"These numbers are off the charts!" Dr. Vahlen had said as she read the report, her eyes widening is disbelief. "Whose record is this?"

"Ahh..." Cindy had stammered. It was a good thing that there were no names on the record. Just a service ID number for each test subject. "They are not from the production system Dr. Vahlen. This is before the re-calibration," she had lied.

"Really?" Dr. Vahlen replied as she checked. "Ah, yes. There must be some mistake. We've not seen anything like this in the production system. Anyway, stop messing with old records Dr. Chang. We've enough on our hands as it is. Please start the research on the Ethereal device that the military boys just brought back on their latest mission. It may hold the key to the very puzzle we're trying to solve."

Cindy let go of a breath she was not aware she was holding. "Yes, Dr. Vahlen," she replied as Dr. Vahlen started to leave.

"On second thoughts, leave the device to me," she said as she walked away slowly. "You work on the final changes on the Psi Armor. We need to get the final designs specs to Engineering so that they can start production as soon as possible."

"Not hungry?" came a voice and Cindy jumped in her seat again for the second time in an hour. She looked up and saw the kindly face of the elderly Asian gentleman the voice belonged to.

"Oh! Dr. Shen," Cindy greeted the bespectacled head of Engineering. "You startled me!"

"I'm sorry but may I join you?" the man that looked to be in his sixties asked, smiling affably.

"Of course. It's just that I have a lot on my mind. Please, do sit down," Cindy said.

"I can understand that," Dr. Shen said nodding as he sat down across from Cindy on the long dining table. "Dr. Vahlen said that you should be passing the specs for the Psi Armor to us by today."

"Oh my! I forgot!" Cindy flustered. "I will email you the specs when I get back to the lab. They are ready. Just that I forgot to send it out."

"It's quite alright," Dr. Shen replied in a congenial manner. "Psionic powers eh? I wonder if humanity is ready for this.. this..next step in evolution, if you may call it."

"I don't understand," Cindy replied puzzled.

"The ability to attack others using our minds. Mind control even," Dr. Shen elaborated as he slowly went through the food on his plate. "Are we sure humanity will be able to use this ability for good?"

"But the alien invaders are using them against us. We are merely responding in kind," Cindy put forth her argument, as she pushed her plate aside. She did not have the appetite anyway.

"Well yes. In that context, using psionic powers are justified," Dr. Shen replied, his voice even. Cindy found him looking into her eyes in askance. "What about after the war has ended? I mean what's there to separate us from the alien invaders? They are using it to invade others. Can we say for sure that we won't go down the same path?"

"If we win the war, you mean?" Cindy asked putting the emphasis on the word if. Her reply garnered her a chuckle from the old gentleman.

"I guess you're right. One problem at a time. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, eh?" Dr. Shen said smiling.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to be heading back to the lab," Cindy said as she gathered her waist length black hair and tied it up into a simple ponytail behind her head and got up.

Dr. Shen merely smiled and nodded as he watched the petite young lady head for the cafeteria door.

**Later the same day.**

"What's the status?" Darius asked as he took his shift in Mission Control. He headed for the viewing platform and checked the Geoscape display. On it was a Skyranger icon with 2 fighter escorts.

"We have Big Sky 03 en route to investigate a UFO landing in Mexico. They are about an hour out," one of the operators reported.

"Any other events?" Darius asked.

"There was an abduction alert earlier from India but there was no confirmed sightings."

"Who's on the Skyranger?" Darius asked but before the answer came the radar operator shouted.

"Landed UFO has just taken off!"

"Strike One Omega on Big Sky 03, sir!"

On the Geoscape the UFO icon started to move.

"UFO now headed towards Big Sky 03 and picking up speed!" the operator announced.

"Recall Big Sky 03!" Darius ordered. "Send the fighters to intercept!"

The ordered was relayed to the pilots.

"Copy that Central, Raven 5 and Raven 6 engaging bogey!" the pilot of Raven 5, call sign Arrow responded. "Talon! Let's go get some!" he called out to his wingman and the two jets dropped their external fuel tanks and accelerated to attack speed.

The two jets raced towards their target. As the distance rapidly closed, the UFO appeared on the edge of their radar. "Let's roll out the welcome mat, shall we?" Arrow said and locked his air to air missiles onto the UFO.

"Target locked on!" Talon called over the radio.

"Alright, once it gets into visual, let 'em have it!" Arrow said and the pilots kept their eyes on the horizon ahead. A couple of minutes later they saw the UFO. It was just a dot on the horizon.

"Missiles away!" Talon announced as the 2 jets unleashed 2 missiles each onto the UFO at almost the same time. The four deadly projectiles screamed towards the UFO.

"Switching to Plasma cannon!" Arrow said. "Going in!"

"Right behind you, Arrow!" Talon acknowledge as the 2 pilots executed their plan. Both jets engaged their super cruise and lurched forward. The UFO now suddenly had 6 targets coming at it. As the missiles were closer and faster, they were the first to be targeted by the UFO's defense mechanism. Plasma shots fired from it. One of the missiles was hit and exploded. The other three rushed on. More plasma shots came.

By this time, the UFO was within the range of the jet's cannon. 2 more missiles were gunned down. But that still left 3 targets for the UFO to contend with. As the UFO fired at the remaining missile, the 2 jets returned fire. A salvo of 3 blasts each that connected as the 2 jets rushed past the UFO. Although the missiles did no damage to the UFO, they provided the cover needed for the jets to get close enough to engage while drawing less return fire.

"Target hit!" Arrow called out.

"Looks like we blew some holes in it but target's still afloat!" Talon said. "Turning round for second pass!"

As the jets turned, the stricken UFO put on a burst of speed.

"Raven Leader, this is Central," came the voice over Arrow's headset. "UFO is closing in on Big Sky 03. We need it taken down, ASAP!"

"Copy that, Central!" Arrow replied. "You heard the man, Talon, let's go!" Arrow pushed his throttle to full and gave pursuit.

Arrow checked his targeting computer. The UFO was out of his plasma cannon range. He switched to missiles. The computer locked on to the target. He fired his last remaining 2 missiles at it. As the missile closed in, the UFO took them out with its plasma cannon and continued after the Skyranger. The distance between the 2 crafts narrowed at an alarming rate.

The 2 interceptor pilots pushed their planes to the max but still they were trailing behind. Arrow realized with a sinking feeling that they were not going to catch up before the Skyranger gets within range of the UFO's cannons.

"C'mon! C'mon!" Arrow mumbled, trying to will the plane to move faster.

The UFO came into firing distance. Its plasma cannon fired. Arrow could see the Skyranger pilot taking evasive maneuvers as the Skyranger jerked around as it in tandem with the plasma cannon shots. The Skyranger pilot had activated its DODGE device that detects the shots and maneuvers the plane out of the line of fire but it can only last for 5 minutes and the countdown has begun.

"Raven leader, this is Big Sky 03!" came the distress call. "Need help to get rid of this tail pronto!"

"Sit tight, Big Sky 03! We're on our way!" Arrow replied clenching his teeth. He pushed at the throttle control but it had gone as far as it could.

Arrow kept his eyes on the HUD, willing the box marked around the UFO to turn green to indicate that it was within range. The seconds torturously flitted by. The UFO kept firing at the Skyranger. So far, the shots had missed. Then the box turned green and a beep sounded. Arrow's finger tightened on the fire button. The plasma cannon roared and the shot rocketed towards the UFO. It hit. He saw his wingman had also started firing. The hits also connected but at the same time, the UFO's shots had also found their target. Smoke spewed out from the Skyranger as it spun out of control and finally exploded before breaking into two parts and plummeted to the ocean below.

"Bloody hell!" Arrow shouted as he kept firing at the now broken UFO as it too started to drop to the ocean. The shots ripped the UFO into pieces but there was little consolation.

Back in Mission Control, the Skyranger icon disappeared along with the UFO's icon. There was silence in the room. All present knew what it meant.

"Central, this is Raven Leader," came the voice over the radio communication channel. "Bogey down. Dammit! I'm sorry, Central!"

"Raven Leader, this is Central," Darius replied. "It's not your fault. Come on home. Central out," he continued as he closed his eyes, shutting out the image of the Geoscape. "Initiate search and rescue on the last known position of Big Sky 03," he ordered but he knew the chances of finding survivors was low.

###

Darius turned in his bed for the upteenth time. He checked the thermostat. The temperature was fine just as it was 5 minutes ago. Darius turned on his back and stared up at the ceiling. The low hum of the air conditioning unit was all he could hear. He turned his head and checked the clock. It showed 2.54 AM. Darius decided to get up. He would not be getting any sleep and he knew it.

Throwing on a T-shirt and jogging pants he exited his room in the barracks, thinking that he would hit the treadmill for a while in the gym. He headed towards the elevator and hit the button to call for it. It came and he entered it. His hand hit a button on the panel and he pondered on the fact that he was psionically gifted and the possibility that he could actually communicate with the aliens. What did it all mean? How could he use this gift or was it a curse?

The elevator doors opened and Darius stepped out. To his surprise he was not at the gym entrance. He was at the storage area of the Ant Farm. The guard on duty snapped to attention.

"Sir!" he saluted the commander of XCOM.

"At ease soldier," he replied wondering why he was here. The mission that Strike One Alpha was on had netted them one unique alien device that no one had seen before. Darius had seen the image on his screen as he reviewed the report and he had not been able to get his mind off the thing since. As he moved closer to the fenced barrier and door to the storage hold, Darius could see the device glowing faintly in the dark inside.

"Would you mind opening the door, soldier?" Darius asked as he kept his eyes on the Ethereal Device as the scientific research team had labeled it.

"Of course, Sir!" the soldier replied and unlocked the door.

Darius walked towards the device and stopped in front of it. It stood about as high as he was tall. The glow came from a large sphere that hovered a few inches above the pedestal bottom. The sphere was the size of beach ball. The pedestal bottom had a thin arm that arches over the sphere forming a semi-circle around one part of it. It looked something like an oversized trophy apart from the fact that the sphere is hovering seemingly without any source of power.

As Darius got closer, he could feel energy emanating from it. He knew now that this was psionic energy and the sphere held an enormous amount. He slowly reached out to it with his right hand. As his hand neared the sphere the energy seemed to condense around it. Then he felt it. A jolt and suddenly images began flooding his mind again. It was like the time when the Sectoid commander pounced on him. Before he could do anything the face of another Sectoid commander appeared in his mind.

"Finally, we have made contact with you," the words came into his mind and Darius knew that somehow, they were from the Sectoid commander. Somehow their minds were now linked.

Darius quickly pulled back his hand. The link between them broke. It was like hanging up the phone. He staggered back a few steps. He was breathing fast. The guard noticed and asked, "Sir? Are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine," Darius answered and quickly walked towards the door. The guard opened it and he walked out. He nodded to the guard and headed back to the elevator, with a thousand and one thoughts running through his mind. None of which are re-assuring.

###

"You could get court martialed if someone caught you here, you know?" Dr. Vahlen said in jest as she stepped out of the shower dressed only in a robe.

"Yes, but everybody's doing it," replied Central Officer Bradford as he watched the doctor sat herself in front of her dresser and picked up a hairdryer. Bradford himself was sat on the doctor's bed with only the blanket covering him up to his waist. Although physical intimacy between members of XCOM is forbidden, it was an open secret that quite a number of them are intimate with each other. Those in the military arm of XCOM knew that every mission that they go on may very well be their last so they turn a blind eye to it.

"That may be true but not everybody's the second in command in XCOM," Vahlen replied, her eyes searching for his in the mirror, a knowing smile on her face as she proceeded to dry her hair.

Bradford sighed and put his both his hands behind his head as he let himself slide further down the soft bed. "I would have been the number one in XCOM. It just isn't fair," Bradford said. "It was the first mission. The first encounter XCOM has ever had with the invaders. Tell me how anyone could have predicted the enemies' strength?" he went on, bitterness creeping into his voice. On that first mission a little more than a year ago, only one soldier came back alive from a squad of four. Bradford had been in command in Mission Control, personally directing the operations.

Vahlen put the hairdryer back onto the dresser, satisfied with the condition her hair was in. She got up and climbed onto the bed next to Bradford, snuggling close to him. Bradford seemed distant as he always did when that topic came up.

Darius's promotion to Commander of XCOM has been brought about by unusual circumstances. Commander Archer, Darius's predecessor, was killed in a freak accident. A strike team had brought back a Muton Berserker. It was the first berserker that they had successfully stunned.

As the research personnel were trying to put it into the containment chamber, it suddenly awoke and rampaged through the labs. Commander Archer was incidentally inside the labs at the time. Being the only person with military training in the vicinity at the time, he took on the berserker. He fired at it with his laser pistol but Muton Berserkers were hardy. The alien ran right up to him despite being shot and Commander Archer was killed in action.

Bradford was the second to arrive on the scene. Darius and some of the strike team members arrived just a moment later. Had they been just a tad later, Bradford would have suffered the same fate as Commander Archer. He had shielded Vahlen from the berserker. Darius pumped the last shots into the berserker and killed it. Vahlen had been upset at the time. She lamented the fact that they had missed the opportunity to study and interrogate a live specimen.

After the incident, all had expected Bradford to take Commander Archer's place but the Council had promoted Darius instead.

"If it's any comfort even Commander Lee has his trysts," Vahlen whispered into Bradford's ears.

"I know. With a certain doctor Chang," Bradford replied pulling Vahlen closer to him. He planted a sensual kiss on her lips. "But why would I want to think about him now that you're right in front of me?" he said as he skillfully removed the robe from her and pushed her onto the bed kissing the nape of her neck.


	4. Chapter 4

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 4**

Darius looked through the list that the Psi labs had passed to him. Going through the list he was glad that his name did not appear on it. It was a list of names of those who had the psionic gift. Darius heaved a sigh of relief. It has been 2 weeks after the incident with the Ethereal device in the storage hold. The science research team has started working on the device and has found out that it was a communication device of some sort. They are now calling it the Psi-Link device. Dr. Vahlen was confident that by using the device, they could find out where the aliens were hiding and XCOM could bring the fight to the aliens rather than just reacting to them.

He pushed the report folder away and decided to go for lunch first. Leaving his office, he headed for the cafeteria.

After getting his food from the line, Darius walked to an empty table and sat down. The TV screens in the cafeteria were on. As Darius sat down, he glanced up at the nearest screen. The news was on. The reporter was covering a story about UFO sightings and abductions. At first the governments of the world tried to deny the presence of the alien threat but as the aliens stepped up their attacks, there was no way to cover it up. Panic gripped the world. XCOM was the result but there was little one organization with limited resources can do when the threat was worldwide and simultaneous alien threats often showed up forcing XCOM to respond only to those that were most pressing.

As Darius was watching the screen, another person sat down beside him. Darius turned his head and saw Dr. Shen sitting down.

"Mind if I join you, Commander Lee?" the elderly man said smiling.

"No. Not at all. Please, just call me Darius," Darius replied. He was not comfortable with the fact that people older than himself used that title.

"Watching the news will just give you indigestion, commander," Dr. Shen said half in jest.

"I don't think news reports have half the effect that our own reports have," Darius replied keeping the banter light.

"I know what you mean," Dr. Shen said as both of them ate slowly. "Sometimes I find it hard to understand this whole thing."

"They are invading. What's there to understand?" Darius said.

"I mean, these alien invaders.. what do they want from us? They have better technologies. They don't seem to be going after anything specific. They are not trying to steal our water or any earthly elements. By golly, we are the ones that are finding alien elements much more useful! Look at the Elerium generator! Much better power output than our nuclear reactors and much cleaner!"

"Now that you mentioned it, your deductions are valid," Darius said. "What is it that they want? Maybe they want the Earth? Maybe they want a place to live?"

"Real estate?" Dr. Shen chuckled. "I think that's the least of their problems. They can travel through the vastness of space with ease. Finding a place to live will not be a problem. Besides finding an uninhabited planet will be more preferable. Why go through the trouble of trying to rid a planet of its previous inhabitants?"

Darius raised his eyebrows at that comment. Dr. Shen's arguments were solid. He would have never thought about that. He was and still is a soldier at heart. Going into the battlefield was his thing. Philosophy? Not so much.

"What are your thoughts on this, Dr. Shen?" Darius asked intrigued. "What do you think the aliens are after?"

"If I had the answer to that question, we will be halfway to winning this war," Dr. Shen replied.

"Winning?" Darius said with an apologetic smile on his face. "I'll settle for breaking even any day. I don't even think I'm cut out for this job."

"You're doing fine," Dr. Shen said smiling warmly. "Taking into consideration all the circumstances, of course. For what it's worth, I have faith in you."

Darius just smiled and the two men ate the rest of their meal in silence.

When Darius came back from his meal, he gave the Psi labs report on his table another look. The list of psionics capable personnel was a short one. Only five names. Darius stopped at the name listed under number three: Zaytsev, Vassili.

So the rookie that shot a Sectoid commander off him about a year ago was psionically gifted. That was interesting. Of course, he was a Major now.

He closed the file and threw it onto his table. Since his first psi contact with the Sectoid commander, Darius had taken a big interest into the Psi lab's psionic training programme. Although the official training have yet to begun, he had read all the materials and applied the training to himself secretly.

He now knew that the so called Psi Link device is a powerful multi-purpose device the aliens utilized. Communication was only one facet.

After gaining a better hold of his own psionic powers, Darius had been able to make some sense out of the images that had flooded into his mind. It was like a journal of some sort. Historical data. It concerned mainly the Sectoids. It seemed that they were reaching out for help. Darius could feel that the Sectiods had a lot of anger aimed towards the Ethereals. Almost as if the Sectoids wanted to get rid of the Ethereals as badly as they did.

Could it all be a ruse? A trap? Those questions had been playing over and over in Darius's mind. Maybe the aliens had wanted to lure him and then to somehow control him so that they could in turn use him for their benefits? But what if the Sectoids are really reaching out for assistance? Having a revolution within the aliens' own rank could only benefit humanity. How to be sure?

Darius knew that there was only one way to find out. He had to use the device again.

###

"You want me to do what?" Cindy exclaimed incredulously when Darius told her his plan.

"I know you can arrange it, right?" Darius said pulling her closer and holding her tightly in his arms.

"It's too risky! I.. I don't know," Cindy stammered as she pushed Darius away and turned her back towards him.

"You're the senior researcher on the team right? You could give the engineers some excuse and have them go for break for an hour or so? That's all I need."

Cindy stepped further away but she could only move so far away inside her room. It was not like the room was large. She bit her lips. "I don't know... Dr. Vahlen could turn up at any time.. and.. and…." her voice trailed off.

"It'll be fine," Darius said and embraced her from behind. "Dr. Vahlen is taking this Tuesday off and she's now tied up with the Psi training. She had already had a turn with the Psi Link device. Besides, they are just moving the device into the Gollop Chamber. It's not even hooked up yet. Dr. Vahlen will not have any interest in the thing until it's properly hooked up. She doesn't know that I do not need the device to be hooked up."

Cindy turned in his arms and buried her face into his chest. "I just don't like the idea of you using the device. You yourself have said that it could be a trap. What if it really is a trap? What if the aliens want to harm you? You'll be walking right into it!"

Darius held her even more tightly. Cindy's fears were not unfounded. Even he himself could not eliminate that possibility but he had to find out. "If they had wanted to harm me, they would have done it the first time. Why wait and let that chance go by? Besides, you'll be there. You can pull me away. Once I'm some distance away from the device, the link will be broken. It'll be fine," he said more to convince himself than her.

"I just hope you're right!" Cindy conceded. She then looked up and found Darius's eyes looking back at her. She closed her eyes and slowly brought her lips to his and they kissed.

###

**Two Days Later**

The elevator descended to the lowest level of the Ant Farm. The doors opened and Cindy stepped out. Turning right, she could see the workers from the Engineering department not too far in front. Cindy took a deep breath and walked towards the group. When she reached the entrance of the newly excavated Gollop Chamber, she called out loudly, "Attention everybody! Could I have your attention please?"

The workers paused and turned their attention to her. The site supervisor came forward.

"What seems to be the problem, Dr. Chang?" the site supervisor asked as he came to a stop in front of Cindy.

"Ahh.. there's no problem actually," she started a bit hesitantly. "It's just that we need to calibrate some settings on the Psi-Link device so we would appreciate it if you all could take a break for about an hour or so."

The supervisor looked puzzled. "The device is just there," he indicated to the middle of the chamber. "It's not like we are going to touch it or anything. We're just hooking up the consoles and electrical cables. You could do your calibration and we could do our work."

"Ahh... I'm sorry but we need the chamber to be evacuated during the procedure.. not that we're trying to delay anything but…" Cindy replied, her mind racing to find the words that would sound at least logical.

"What seems to be the problem here?" came a voice from behind Cindy that made her jump.

"Dr. Shen!" the supervisor greeted and seemed relieved to have the elderly head of engineering present. "Dr. Chang here has just told us to take an hour's break. We are already on a tight schedule," he said looking not too happy.

"Is that right, Dr. Chang?" Dr. Shen enquired, turning to face the researcher as he came to a stop next to Cindy.

Cindy turned towards the head of engineering but she avoided eye contact. "Err.. that's right," Cindy said trying to look busy scanning the document folder she held in her hands. "We need to do some calibrating on the Psi-Link device."

Dr. Shen looked at the young lady without saying anything. An awkward silence fell upon the group. Cindy still avoided any eye contact with Dr. Shen.

After what seemed like forever Dr. Shen finally said, "Well. Dr. Chang is the senior researcher on the Psi-Link device. If she says she needs an hour, then she needs an hour. Come now boys, let's take a break."

Cindy heaved a breath of relief as the engineering guys started to file out of the chamber.

"Thank you Dr. Shen," she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. She glanced at the elderly gentleman's eyes and immediately wished she hadn't. Behind the glasses, Dr. Shen's eyes were piercing and searching for an answer. Cindy averted her eyes quickly.

"No need to thank me," Dr. Shen replied. "Just make sure that this does not become a habit. We are on a tight schedule, you know?" With that the elderly gentleman turned slowly and walked towards the elevator.

When she was finally alone in the chamber, Cindy headed for the nearest chair and collapsed into it. She barely had the strength to stand. Her heart was still beating fast inside her chest. She tried to slow it down. When she calmed down a little, she reached into her pockets and fished out her smartphone. She tapped on the screen once and waited.

Darius's smartphone beeped once. That was the signal. He left his office and told the officers that he was taking a break and headed towards the elevator. After making sure that no one will be sharing the elevator with him, he pressed the button to close the doors and tapped the button for the lowest level.

He stepped out of the elevator and headed straight to the Gollop Chamber. As he entered, he saw Cindy running towards him. Darius had to stop her from dashing into an embrace. Without a word he closed the door to the chambers and turned his attention towards the Psi Link device.

"Cindy," he said as he walked towards the device. "If you see me behaving strangely or if you feel something's wrong, pull me away from the device!"

"Oh Darius, I don't like this one bit," Cindy pleaded. "Could we just forget the whole thing?"

"I have to find out, Cindy," Darius said not breaking his stride. "Lock the doors."

Darius stopped right in front of the Psi Link device. Cindy lingered a few paces behind him, arms wrapped around herself, looking worried. Darius raised both his hands and put them close to the glowing sphere. As his hands neared, the sphere began to glow a little brighter and mottled patterns appeared on the surface.

The jolt and then his mind was linked. Darius tried to picture the face of the Sectoid commander that he saw the first time. A little while later the image came into his mind. Their consciousness was linked. This was it.

"Who are you?" Darius formed the question in his mind. At the same time he tried to shield his mind from any incoming psi attacks.

"Finally, we have made contact again," the Sectoid commander's voice filled Darius's head. "I am Fyzklehweeruit. A commander of the aliens you all called the Sectoids. There is no need for your psi shield. We have no intention of causing you harm. We must be brief else our masters will be aware of our conversation."

"Masters? What do you mean?" Darius questioned.

"The ones you call the Ethereals. They are our masters. They have cloned us for war. They have experimented on us cruelly. They have invaded our world as they are trying to invade yours. I am here to seek assistance from you, human. We have the same enemy."

"You mean the Ethereals?"

"Yes. For too long have we suffered under their oppression. I lead a group of rebellious compatriots. We seek your help to free our world and yours."

"How can I trust you?"

"You must feel it. Our sincerity. Via this link, you must know that we hold no deceit. There is no time. This link will be discovered if we remain connected for much longer. I will feed our plans directly into your consciousness. It will take too long to convey it via conversation. It will feel strange for you but please do not resist. Contact me again if you are willing to co-operate. I will commence the transfer now."

Suddenly images began flooding his mind again but this time, it was more intense and the flow was much greater than anything he had experienced before. He wanted to break the link but something deep inside him told him to hold on. The information upload process went on and on and just as Darius felt that he could take no more, the process stopped and the link was also gone. Darius found himself on his knees and Cindy was close to tears trying to drag him away from the device but she was much too small to be able to move Darius without his help.

"Darius! Stop it! Stop it please!" Cindy was begging, her voice on the verge of breaking.

Darius raised his arms and grabbed Cindy's arms as he tried to get onto his feet.

"I'm.. I'm fine," he said shakily. "Gone.. It's gone. The link's gone." Darius tried to get up but he faltered on his first attempt but managed to get his footing on his second.

"How long was I..?" Darius asked as he leaned on Cindy.

"Only about a minute!" Cindy said as she tried her best to hold Darius up.

"Is that so? That.. that's incredible!" Darius said. He could hardly believe that the exchange was so brief yet he felt that he had got about a lifetime worth of information.

"What happened?" Cindy asked, concern still heavy in her voice.

"I'm not sure," Darius said as he started to walk towards the door. "I need to lie down. Can you help me to my room?"

"Mine's closer. Let's go there instead," Cindy replied. Darius just nodded.

###

The Skyranger raced through the clouds in the night sky. Inside the 6 six squad members concentrated on the briefing of their latest mission.

"Our drop today is in Egypt. Right in the heart of Cairo. This is an extraction mission. We are to rendezvous with the science and technology minister, Tharir Al-Azhar and bring him out of Egypt. He has vital information regarding the alien invasion. We need to ensure that he makes it out alive," Central Officer Bradford briefed the squad.

"Central, this is Big Sky 01," the pilot of the Skyranger called out over the radio. "We have arrived at the drop zone."

"Roger that Big Sky 01. Strike One Alpha, you are cleared to deploy. Get Al-Azhar out of there and minimize civilian casualty. We will be monitoring from here. Central out," Bradford's voice came through.

The Skyranger touched down with a bump and the ramp at the rear of the aircraft came down revealing the urban scape of Cairo's night. The VTOL had landed in a park in the city. Overseer checked the display on his wrist-com. A yellow circle flashed on it indicating the location of the car about 1 kilometer away from their location.

"All right squad," Overseer said. "I want this done quick and clean. We go in and we get out. Priority is to secure the target. All others are secondary, understood?"

"Yes, sir!" came the reply. Overseer nodded and signaled the squad to deploy. Rogue was the first down the ramp followed by a rookie, Sean Delaney call sign 'Desperado'. Then Peacekeeper ran out followed closely by another rookie, Thomas Abagbe, call sign 'Thunder'. Hex and Overseer were the last to exit.

Once outside they quickly made their way through the park towards the exit and the road where Al-Azhar's car would be situated. At two in the morning, they were the only people in the park. Presently they came to the exit of the park. The access road ran along the horizon in front of them, effectively splitting the park into two sides. The park was elevated and there were a couple of pedestrian bridges that crossed the road that ran underneath. Overseer signaled the squad to stop as he checked the GPS display on his wrist com. The target's car would be a little distance towards their right.

Suddenly flashes of light came from that direction. Plasma rifle blasts and conventional gunfire could be heard. Overseer quickly split the squad into two. He signaled Hex, Rogue and Desperado to cross over to the other side while he led Peacekeeper and Thunder on this side. They ran towards where the sounds came from.

As they drew near another bridge they saw the where the sounds were coming from. About a hundred meters in front of them a couple of cars were parked by the side. Their occupants were taking cover behind them and firing their pistols at the still unseen assailants across the road. Plasma shots came in reply to the pistol shots.

"Contact! A group of Thin Men. I count six," Rogue's voice came over the radio. Thin Men or what the XCOM operatives nicknamed the aliens. They were very humanoid in figure but very tall and thin. They wore tuxedos and had unusually pale skin that covered their heads. Just below the neckline, if you are to look carefully you would see scales instead of skin. They also always wear dark glasses to conceal their reptilian eyes.

"Copy that Rogue. Move in carefully. Hex, cover them. I will get Peacekeeper and Thunder to the cars. Let's hope Al-Azhar is still among the living," Overseer said and signaled to Peacekeeper and Thunder to move towards the cars.

From across the street 2 shots in quick succession from Hex's sniper rifle rang out in the dark. "Minus two Xrays!" Hex announced. Almost immediately Overseer could see that the plasma fire aimed towards the cars ceased. The Thin Men were re-acting to the new found threat from Strike One Alpha.

Plasma shots were now shooting towards Rogue's team positions.

As Overseer closed in towards the cars, he could see three persons huddled behind the cars. Each had a pistol in his hands. Peacekeeper was sprinting across the open space from her last cover behind a statue towards the nearest car. Overseer parked himself behind one of the big vases of palm that lined the park's road and prepped his plasma sniper rifle. He watched for the plasma rifle from the Thin Men to determine their location. Once he got one, he pointed his rifle towards the direction and peered through the scope. The scope magnified the image and he saw a Thin Man taking cover behind a large rock. He aimed for its head and squeezed off a shot. The Thin Man lost its head and went down.

"Peacekeeper, what's the status on the extraction target?" Overseer asked as he searched his scope for another alien.

"Target has run into the park when the attack started! One of his bodyguards has given chase. No exact location of target for now," came Peacekeeper's reply.

"Shit!" Overseer cursed. Now they had to find him before the aliens do. "Rogue! I'll leave the mop up here to you. You're Strike One Alpha One! Once you've secured the area, setup a perimeter halfway to the Skyranger. We'll bring the target back and we'll get the hell outta here!"

"Roger that, Overseer!" came Rogue's acknowledgement. "Hex! Desperado! To me!"

"Thunder! Let's go! Let's find this Al-Azhar guy before he gets his ass kicked by these Xrays!" Overseer called into his radio as he shouldered his sniper rifle and drew his plasma pistol. "Peacekeeper! Lead the way!"

"Copy, Overseer!" Peacekeeper said and she sprinted towards the tree line in the park. Thunder and Overseer quickly followed. They ran towards a wooded area in the park.

"Strike One Alpha Two, eyes open!" Overseer called out as they went into the woods. "Keep to cover!"

They moved swiftly from cover to cover, keeping each other in sight at all times. Not long after they entered the woods, Peacekeeper who was taking point, signaled to stop and drop. There was some movement in the shrubs ahead of them. They quickly dashed behind trees and raised their weapons.

Two men broke through the bushes. One of them was supporting the other with his arms draped his shoulders. The one that was obviously wounded was carrying a pistol. The other was unarmed.

"Halt!" Overseer shouted. "Are you Tahrir Al-Azhar?"

"Thank God! Yes! I'm Al-Azhar!" the unarmed man replied in a panicky voice. "Please! Get us out of here! They're coming! My bodyguard is injured! Please!"

"Peacekeeper! Check them!" Overseer ordered and Peacekeeper ran towards the 2 men. She gave both of them a quick look over.

"Fuck! Zombie!" Peacekeeper called out. "We've got Chrysalids! How many of the monsters were there?" Peacekeeper asked Al-Azhar.

"I'm not sure! Dozens maybe! They just came out of nowhere!" Al-Azhar said still panicky.

"All right! Let's get out of here!" Overseer called. "Thunder! Get Al-Azhar! We're moving out back to the LZ! Strike One Alpha One! We're headed back to LZ! There's Chrysalids around. At least a dozen! Be on alert!"

Thunder grabbed Al-Azhar and pulled him away from his wounded bodyguard. Al-Azhar protested, "What about him? He saved my life! We can't leave him here!"

"He's already gone!" Peacekeeper yelled. She roughly pushed Al-Azhar away and when they were about half a dozen paces away, she turned and shot the wounded bodyguard with her alloy cannon.

"What the hell are you doing?" Al-Azhar shouted trying to lunge towards Peacekeeper. Only Thunder's vice like grip stopped him short.

Just then something broke through the bodyguard's body from the inside. The stomach ruptured and claws broke through. Then out came a creature straight from a nightmare. It has four sharp claws or legs connected to a body of an oversized insect-like beast. It hissed as it shook itself free from the corpse. The creature was still an immature one. If left for another hour or so, a fully mature alien will emerge from the doomed human host.

Peacekeeper fired another shot and the insect like alien shattered into pieces with a high pitched shriek. She then turned back to Al-Azhar who had a horrified look on his face. "Any more questions?" she asked. Al-Azhar just shook his head and the group ran back towards where the Skyranger would be. Thunder, Peacekeeper had Al-Azhar in front while Overseer took up position of rear guard.

As they broke out of the tree line, they could hear the high pitched clicking noises from the Chrysalids giving pursuit. Overseer turned and saw about five Chrysalids just exiting the bushes. He quickly raised his pistol and fired a double tap at the nearest one. It dropped to the ground. He shifted his aim to the next one but more of the Chrysalids broke through.

"Get the target back to the Skyranger! Don't stop until you've strapped him onto the seat!" Overseer commanded as he dropped the second Chrysalid with another salvo.

He then had to turn and run as the aliens are quickly closing the gap. Thunder and Peacekeeper was about five meters in front of him, keeping Al-Azhar in between them.

Overseer sprinted as hard as he can but he knew that humans cannot outrun a Chrysalid. Each time he turned his head back, the Chrysalids have gained on him. He didn't know if he should keep running or turn and face the beast in a last stand and buy his squad members some time. Before he could decide a voice broke through on his radio headpiece.

"Overseer, drop!" Rogue's voice came. Overseer threw himself to the ground. Something whooshed past him and an explosion was heard a split second later. It was rocket. Rogue had ordered Desperado to fire his rocket at the pursuing Chrysalids. The blast knocked off half a dozen of those closest to Overseer and caused the rest to pause for a while due to the sudden change in the situation.

"Time to haul ass, Overseer!" Rogue called out again and Overseer quickly got his feet under him and ran. A hundred meters In front and to the left of him, he saw Strike One Alpha One at their pre-designated checkpoint. They were responding to the Chrysalids.

Hex was firing off shots as quickly as she could. Rogue was doing the same. Peacekeeper and Thunder had Al-Azhar past Rogue's position already. He was glad they were sticking to his orders. He had drilled his squad hard that no one should abandon their primary objectives under any situation. Whole squads were lost when orders are not adhered to. Overseer did not want that to happen. At least, not on his watch.

"Strike One Alpha One! Back to the LZ on the double!" Overseer yelled as he sprinted as hard as he could, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He saw Rogue's team packing it and running towards the Skyranger. They still had around a dozen of the Chrysalids in pursuit.

The Skyranger VTOL came into view as the squad ran with their pursuers closing the gap by the minute. "Big Sky 01! Drop the ramp and gun the engines!" Overseer shouted. He could see the VTOL's engines glowing as the aircraft powered up for take-off. The rear ramp came down. Peacekeeper pushed Al-Azhar into the Skyranger. Thunder followed closely behind. Rogue's team boarded after that. Hex took up position just inside the ramp and started firing at the pursuing Chrysalids.

"C'mon Overseer! They are right on your ass! Move it!" Hex called out as she fired shot after shot.

"Take off! Take off!" Overseer ordered as he neared the VTOL. The Skyranger lifted off the ground. Summoning all the strength he had left, Overseer jumped the last couple of meters. He reached up for the edge of the ramp that was rising into the sky as the Skyranger gained altitude. To his horror his hand missed the ramp. As his hand clutched at empty air, he felt something grabbing onto his arm.

"Gotcha sir!" Thunder said as Overseer lifted into the air. He glanced upwards and saw Thunder leaning over the ramp, his arm clutching tightly to his squad leader. Overseer looked down. The Crysalids and the park were rapidly shrinking away as the VTOL powered up and rose higher into the sky.

"Thanks! Owe you one," Overseer gasped to Thunder as he was pulled into the Skyranger and the ramp closed.

"Don't mention it, sir!" Thunder grinned as his squad leader collapsed onto his back, trying to catch his breath.

Overseer lay there for a couple of minutes as the Skyranger headed towards home base. He sat up and found that the holster strapped to his right thigh was empty. He looked around the hold they were in, eyes scanning the floor.

"Hell, where's my plasma pistol?" Overseer asked when he saw no sign of the object he was looking for.

"You dropped it?" Peacekeeper asked.

"Again?" Hex chipped in. The mood lightened perceptibly.

"This is like... what? The fifth time?" Rogue chided amid the chortles from Peacekeeper and Hex.

"Maybe I need to tell the armory guys to reserve a crate just for you, sir!" Rogue continued poking fun and laughter broke out in the hold of the Skyranger as it sped towards the Ant Farm.


	5. Chapter 5

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 5**

Darius walked into the debriefing room and found that all the relevant persons had already gathered. Bradford, Dr. Vahlen, Dr. Shen and Tharir Al-Azhar was seated at the table. He took his seat and started the meeting.

"Thank you all for coming," Darius greeted. "Mr. Al-Azhar, we're sorry that we've arranged this meeting so soon after you arrived but time is a luxury we do not have. Please, could you please brief the room on the information that you have."

"Yes. Thank you commander for sending your men," Al-Azhar started. "I would not have made it if it weren't for your brave men and women that came to my rescue." Darius just nodded and prompted him to go on.

"As you know, Egypt have withdrawn from the Council two months ago. Our government has deemed XCOM as.. er.. how would you say it.. inefficient and thus has pulled all funding. I shared that view initially and thought that our funds would be put to better use by channeling them to our own military to fight against the invaders."

"Right, what happened next?" Darius asked.

"I found that the funds were never channeled to the military. Moreover, most of our research projects to develop more advanced weaponry against the aliens were shut down."

"By your own government?" Bradford asked.

"Yes. I got a little curious and did a little prying on my own," Al-Azhar continued. "What I found out was.. shocking to say the least! I found that UFOs have actually landed in my country and they took away.. humans. Inmates to be precise. They were letting the aliens take away prisoners from our jails. I hate to think what fate befell those that were taken away."

"This happened under full knowledge of your government?" Dr. Shen enquired.

"Yes. The authorities did nothing to prevent it. Neither the police nor the military did anything. I could not believe it at first. I tried to report them.. the UFOs.. the landings and the next thing I know, they were coming after me. I have..I should say I had a few trusted colleagues in the office. Other ministers, you know. People in high places in the administration. People who could do something, you know?"

Nods were observed around the table and Al-Azhar continued, "I sought their help but one by one they disappeared as I contacted them. No one would tell me what happened to them. They acted as if nothing happened. By then I knew something was very wrong. I had to get out. It's fortunate that I was able to contact Mr... ahh.. a certain member of your council. I guess my friend got word out to you, commander."

"Thank you Mr. Al-Azhar," Darius said when Al-Azhar finished testifying. "I'm sure that you're tired after all that has happened. Why don't you get some rest?" He motioned to a soldier standing guard in the room. "Private, would you please show Mr. Al-Azhar to his room?"

"Yes, sir!" the soldier acknowledged and opened the door. "This way please, Mr. Al-Azhar." Tahrir Al-Azhar got up and was escorted out of the room.

When he has left Darius turned to the others still in the room. "What do you think?" Darius asked.

"Well, I don't see any signs that he was lying," Dr. Shen said.

"If what he said is true then we have a very big problem," Bradford added.

"Indeed," Darius agreed. "If the alien invaders have infiltrated governments then we are fighting a losing battle."

"How do you fight against these infiltrated governments? How do we even know which has been infiltrated?" Dr. Vahlen asked.

"While we are here trying to stop these UFOs.. Trying to prevent those abductions.. It's hard to believe that there are some that will assist our enemies willingly. This will just nullify all of our efforts," Dr. Shen said.

"What do we plan to do?" Dr. Vahlen voiced the question that was playing in everyone's head.

"Nothing... for now," Darius answered. It wasn't the answer that everyone was hoping for but no one had a better answer. "We need to formulate a plan to counter this.. this new development. I need everyone's input and recommendations on what options are available to us. I expect a proposal from each of you in 48 hours. Dismissed," Darius said, ending the meeting and walked out of the room.

Dr. Shen followed Darius out of the room. He quickened his steps and caught up.

"Commander Lee," he said. "Mind if we have a little discussion? Maybe an early breakfast?"

Darius stopped and turned around. "Sure," he said and they walked together to the cafeteria.

Inside the debriefing room Bradford stood up and straightened with a not-too-pleased look on his face.

"Nothing! Nothing? That's what we have always been doing! Nothing! We just wait for them to make the first move. We re-act!" he said, his tone of voice angry.

"Well then, do you have any better idea?" Dr. Vahlen asked, swinging her chair to and fro a little.

"If it were me in command, I'll have agents on the ground doing espionage on any nations that has pulled their funding. If they are working with the aliens, we'll hit them right there and put a stop to this!" he said sitting back down. "But unfortunately, I'm not the commander of XCOM."

"Idealistic," Vahlen noted. "Where will you find the men to run this espionage plan? We're short on manpower as it is."

"Send the strike team rookies! At least they will have something to do other than being plasma rifle fodder! They are dropping like flies anyway," Bradford remarked.

"They are soldiers. Not spies," Vahlen reminded. "They'll stick out like a sore thumb!"

"What would you do then?" Bradford said, looking at the scientist.

"Well, if I had a little more funding, I'll create a system to monitor the communication channels in these nations. If we get news of any alien hanky-panky, we can send the military boys in," Vahlen said as a matter of factly.

"Eavesdropping?" Bradford said, a little smile crossing his face. "That sounds exactly like you! Say, can you really get a program to do that?"

"Of course! It's not that difficult," Vahlen replied.

"Then could you do me a favor?" Bradford asked and moved closer to whisper into her ears.

###

**Down in the Cafeteria**

Dr. Shen sat down opposite Darius on a bench in the cafeteria. There weren't many people around as it was still quite early in the morning. Only those that had early shifts were there.

"What was it that you had wanted to discuss, Dr. Shen?" Darius asked when they have settled into their seats.

"Oh. These infiltrations by the aliens on certain governments. I think that we are missing some information," Dr. Shen started.

"What's your take?" Darius prompted.

"It's quite illogical to assume that there are humans that will help the invaders willingly. While humans do have their wars and conflicts among themselves, we are talking about invaders that are not of this world. Faced with a common enemy, the natural instinct will be to unite against the enemy," Dr. Shen said.

"Well, that's how XCOM came about," Darius said.

"Yes. And now we are hearing about nations that are initially supportive of this idea going back on their stance. I do not think that this can happen without.. how would you put it?.. Outside influence?"

"Are you suggesting that there are some parties out there that are subverting these governments?"

"Precisely. And I really don't think that they are humans either."

"You mean to say that the aliens themselves are doing the subversion? But why would anyone be willing to be subverted by the aliens? Would you listen to them? I mean I know there are fanatics out there that worship these aliens but these are at most minor inconveniences on the grand scale of things."

"I did not say that those being subverted are willing participants, commander."

"They are unknowingly being subverted? How can that happen?"

"Ahh.. isn't that the million dollar question?" Dr. Shen said, smiling.

"Mind control? But what we have seen is that the controlling alien had to be in close proximity with the subject in order to control them. We have no records of any case where human subjects have been controlled without an alien nearby," Darius said.

"But what we have seen and understand about these alien invaders is so little."

"This is getting crazier by the day!"

"Crazy? You know what's really crazy? Part of my job scope is to blow this whole base to kingdom come by rigging the Elerium generator if there is any danger that the base may be taken by the invaders. What would be achieved by doing that? There's no evacuation plans. Oh and by the way, you're not even supposed to know that I'm supposed to be doing this," Dr. Shen said.

Darius looked at the older gentleman incredulously. He was smiling amicably. Darius did not know if the statement was the truth or it was just a joke.

"You wouldn't tell anyone would you? Nah…. You wouldn't. I trust you," Dr. Shen said and turned his attention back to his meal.

###

**A few hours later in a discussion room inside the research labs**

Cindy Chang walked into the discussion room and closed the door. Although no one outside could hear them, they could see into the room as it had a large transparent window. Darius was already inside the room working on a computer terminal.

"I have transferred the files you needed to your folder," she said as she walked towards Darius and stood behind his chair. Darius accessed the files and started to search through them. They were the files related to the Gollop Chamber and the Psi-Link device. All the necessary setup has been completed and the Gollop Chamber is ready for usage. The only thing holding them back was the fact that so far they do not have anyone that had enough control over their psionic abilities to be able to safely use it.

"Could it be possible?" Darius mused aloud.

"What is possible?" Cindy asked.

"That the aliens could somehow use mind control remotely," Darius said as he searched through the various research papers.

"We can't tell for sure. But since the Psi-Link device can be used for communication, there is a two-way transfer of some kind of signal between two end points. This alien technology is far more advanced than what we have thus we are only scratching the surface of those artifacts that we have recovered. There's no telling what might be possible," Cindy informed.

Darius pushed himself away from the terminal and leaned back into his chair with his eyes closed. He sighed.

"There's too little that we know. Too little to act upon," he said pressing the bridge of his nose between the thumb and index finger of his right hand.

Cindy took the chair next to him, not knowing what to say.

"Al-Azhar's case proves that what the Sectoid commander said is true. They are infiltrating the governments and they have been doing this long before this war even started. They had this planned long ago. They have been studying us before we even know they existed! They have conquered worlds before ours! How do you fight something like that?" Darius said running his hand over his face and head in frustration.

"Perhaps there is a way," Cindy tried to offer some comfort.

"We're fighting against clones! When they run out of soldiers, they could just go to their labs and make a new batch! When we run out of soldiers it's game over. With odds like these, I'd think that the Sectoid's proposed plan just might work, however crazy it may sound!"

"But what is their plan?" Cindy asked again. She had lost count of the times she had asked the same question. Darius had always refused to answer it.

"They will sooner shoot me in the head for treason than accept that one!" Darius replied.

"What else can we do, then?"

"Fight a psionic war? I don't know. If we could use their device against them! Turn the tables somehow. Use mind control to infiltrate their ranks as they did ours but we have so little information. So little time!"

"We only have a handful of psionic capable soldiers and even then they have to be equipped with the Psi Armor to boost their psionic powers. Up until now, this has all been only on paper. We don't even have actual field data yet," Cindy informed.

"I know. I wonder how much time we actually have," Darius sighed.

**Later that night**

"My compatriots and I are the last of the natural bred. Our numbers dwindle with time. The Ethereals have no interest in keeping us around. It's far easier to control the clones. The Mutons are all clones. You have already seen how their Muton berserkers blindly charged to the front lines ignoring all dangers. That's how much control they can exert over the clones. Please assist us in our plan for both our worlds. Humanity cannot hope to triumph against the Ethereals alone!"

Darius sat upright in his bed, jolted awake by that last sentence playing in his mind. A new recurring nightmare ever since he got in contact with the Sectiod commander in the Gollop Chamber. He ran his hand over his face and head to wipe the sweat away. He struggled to calm his racing heart. In that incident, the Sectiod commander had pushed so much information into his mind in so little time. Darius could literally see all that had happened to the Sectoids in his mind. How the Ethereals have conquered them. How they had subjugated them and created clones for their war. The irony of all this was that psionic powers, the Ethereals' greatest weapon against the Sectiods and currently humanity itself, stems from humans. Had the Ethereal not discovered this long before they started this war on Earth, the Ethereals would not have been able to conquer so many worlds. The Ethereals have found something in humans that the humans themselves didn't know they had, developed it and weaponized it. Now humanity was falling against that very weapon.

He got up and went to his desk to switch on his terminal. Accessing the Geoscape programme, he focused his attention to a particular set of coordinates that pointed to somewhere in the Siberian icy wastelands. With a few quick inputs, he directed a satellite over the area. The initial scan showed nothing on the surface. Darius did a thermal scan over the area. The resulting image proved to him beyond a doubt that there was something buried underneath the ground. The Sectoid commander was correct. There was an alien base underneath the ground, not unlike their own Ant Farm. So far all the information that the Sectoid commander had given him was true and his gut feeling was that the Sectoids were really asking for help. He needed to verify one more thing before he could make a decision that would affect all mankind. He quickly erased his recorded transaction from the server's log. No one would be able to tell what he was looking at when the purged the logs. Little did Darius know that the log had already been copied.


	6. Chapter 6

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 6**

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Major Zaytsev asked as he entered Darius' office. He stood at attention.

"Major, yes. Please take a seat," Darius said. When the Major hesitated, Darius got up from his seat and walked over to him. He put one arm over the Major's shoulders and led him to the seat.

"Come. Sit," Darius said as he pulled out the chair.

"What's this all about, sir?" Zaytsev asked as he sat a bit suspicious.

"I won't beat around the bush, Zaytsev," Darius began as he sat himself behind his desk once again. "I have a request. This is strictly voluntary so you can refuse."

"Let's hear it, sir."

"I understand that you have completed the Psionic training course, correct?"

"That is correct, sir."

"I want you to use that out in the field. We will provide you with the newly developed Psi Armor. That will enhance your psionic abilities. Specifically I want you to try and use mind control on the enemies," Darius said.

"Mind control?" Zaytsev asked. "So what you're asking basically is for me to be the guinea pig out on the field?"

"There's no way to sugar coat it but yes. That's what I'm asking. Every opportunity you get as long as it's reasonably safe."

"Hell, how safe is safe? I'll tell you Lee. One of these days those egg heads in the research labs will kill us all," Zaytsev said as a matter of fact. "First they want live specimens and all they give us is a souped up taser. Try telling them to run right up to one of those Xrays and zap it. Why the hell can't they give us a tranquilizer gun or something? Something that does not require us to stand right in front of them. Now they want us to try and mind control these bastards?"

"I know it's not fair. Hell this whole war is not fair," Darius reasoned. "But we need to know if we can go up against them on an even footing. We know that some of them can control us. What if we can do the same? What if we can control them like they do us? But this is strictly voluntary. I want you to know that. If you say no, that's fine by me."

"This whole thing is bat shit crazy. Going in to a battle field trying to mind control the enemies and turn them against themselves? This ain't the kind of war that I'm used to. It used to be that all we need to do is to get a bullet through the enemy's head."

"What choice have we got when they swoop down on us with UFOs that can run circles around our best fighter jets and turn our own soldiers against us?"

"You don't have to remind me. To hell with it! The whole world's gone upside down. Sure. I'll give them a taste of their own medicine. I'll be fun while it lasts," Zaytsev said.

"Thank you. Again I'll like to stress that this is strictly voluntary. You can stop at any time and no one will hold it against you."

"Yeah," Zaytsev said as he got up to leave. When he reached the door he turned back and said, "That's another one you owe me, Lee."

"I know. Sometimes I wish that Sectoid had just blown my brains out. It'll save me all these headaches!"

"Careful what you wish for, Lee," Zaytsev replied as he walked out the door.

###

A small flashing icon caught Bradford's attention on his tablet PC. It was the app that he had Vahlen create for him. Bradford had it secretly running on the XCOM base's main servers. He tapped on it. A log entry showed. Another quick check told him this log was generated from Darius Lee's login ID. Another series of taps and Bradford had called up the log in the main servers. The records showed that this log entry had been deleted and purged.

"What is our Commander trying to hide?" Bradford thought to himself. Looking back at the log he recognized that it showed a set of coordinates. Before he could further analyze the log, the alert sounded. Bradford looked up towards the holographic globe of the Geoscape in the Mission Control room. A red icon had appeared on the Europe continent.

"Where's that alert coming from?" Bradford asked.

"Germany sir!" came the reply from an officer manning the console. "It's a terror attack." Before Bradford could issue any orders another alert sounded. 3 more icons flashed on the Geoscape.

"What now?" Bradford said in frustration.

"Alien abduction reports sir!"

"Locations?" Bradford asked.

"One in Australia. One in Canada and one in China, sir!"

"Any confirmed sightings on the abductions?" Bradford queried.

"Only the one in China, sir! UFO sighting confirmed."

"Alright. Dispatch Strike One Alpha to Germany and Strike One Beta to China," Bradford ordered. "The rest will have to wait."

"Right away, sir!"

###

**An hour later**

"New armor, sir?" Rogue asked finally giving voice to the question that was burning in the squad members' mind as they flew towards their designated area of operation in Germany.

"Yeah," Overseer replied, fidgeting. The new Psi Armor differed greatly from the regular armor that the squads were used to. The normal armor had big bulky platings. The Psi armor was almost skin tight and came in one piece like a leotard rather than separate components for torso and limbs. They could still see the platings but they were much thinner.

"Are those guys in the science labs trying to kill the Xrays with laughter now?" Rogue said, drawing laughter from the others. Rogue and Overseer are the longest surviving members of Strike One Alpha thus Rogue could get away that remark.

"I know I look ridiculous but it's the performance that matters," Overseer replied. "This baby here could take more hits than yours!"

"I sure hope you're right, sir!" Rogue said in a mocking tone. "Ain't no one killed any enemies with cuteness yet."

Before Overseer could retort the pilot's voice broke over their radio. "We're nearing the LZ, Strike One Alpha. Get ready to deploy!"

"Copy that, Big Sky 01," Overseer acknowledged. "Alright people. Lock and load. Central this is Strike One Alpha. Approaching AO," Overseer reported.

"Copy that Strike One Alpha. This is a terror attack so your primary objective is to get as many civilians to safety as you secure the area. Stay safe. We'll be monitoring here. Clear to engage, Strike One Alpha. Central out," came Bradford's voice.

The familiar bump as the Skyranger touched down and the ramp dropped. The squad quickly ran out. The area of operation was on a German autobahn interchange just outside the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region. The night sky was clear but dotting the highway were burning vehicles and columns of smoke rising from them. The autobahn they were on ran straight into the horizon while another crossed it at a right angle on a higher elevation about 50 meters in front of them. A section of the top autobahn had collapsed and there were rubble and vehicles strewn across the bottom one. A petrol tanker trailer was on its side with its tank hanging precariously over the edge of the top highway. Most of the fires were at that section. That's where they will find the aliens too, Overseer thought.

"Alright squad! Move in towards that crossing and send any civilians back towards the Skyranger. The local authorities will send in choppers for evac and the rendezvous point will be at the LZ," Overseer briefed his squad as they moved in, keeping to cover between the abandoned vehicles. Overseer ran towards a van and crouched beside it. He heard a noise inside. He quickly shouldered his sniper rifle and pulled out his plasma pistol. With one quick movement, he slid the side door open and pointed the pistol inside. A terrified, sobbing lady greeted his eyes.

"Are you alright?" Overseer asked but was replied with an uncomprehending look from the cowering lady. Overseer did a visual check and she did not seemed injured. "It's okay. Please get out of the van and headed towards that direction!" Overseer said but still the lady did not move. Then he found out why. Cursing silently, Overseer flicked on the translator device on his wrist com, set it to German and repeated the statement. This time the lady had a look of relief on her face and she grabbed onto Overseer. After a brief embrace Overseer pushed her gently away and pointed to the direction of the Skyranger. "Go towards the plane. There will be men there to tell you what to do next. Keep your head down!" The speaker on his radio headset repeated his words in German to the lady who nodded in between sobs and then ran off towards the indicated direction joining the rest of the civilians that his squad had directed back to the Skyranger.

The squad moved from vehicle to vehicle, checking for civilians and evacuating them. The number of civilians dwindled as they got closer to the wrecked section of the autobahn. Overseer made his way to another car as he neared the overpass. A movement caught his sight. "Contact! Floaters, count 3! Lower deck on the left!" he informed through the radio.

"Got them in visual," Desperado replied. A barrage of heavy plasma burst followed and one of the floaters exploded. "One Xray down!"

Overseer saw the floaters move to better cover. He was about to unslung his sniper rifle when he remembered Darius' request. Taking a deep breath, he focused his energy to his mind and tried to mind control the floater he had his eyes on. Nothing. No response from the floater.

'Fat lot of good that did!' Overseer thought and got his sniper rifle ready to fire. He lined the floater up in his scope and squeezed the trigger. The floater didn't know what hit him.

"Contact! Upper deck! Cyberdisk!" came Peacekeeper's urgent voice. Overseer glanced at the upper deck. A silver saucer the size of a small car floated into view. Bad news. Cyberdisks packed a lot of firepower.

"Priority target is Cyberdisk!" Overseer ordered. "I want it down ASAP!" he said as he lined the disk up in his sights.

"Crap! We have another Cyberdisk up there!" Rogue said. "Taking fire! That was close!"

Overseer squeezed off a shot. It connected but the Cyberdisk was still up. So far, no one had been able to down a Cyberdisk in one shot. He took his eyes off the scope and took stock of the situation. Two disks were visible now and firing at his squad.

"Getting pinned down here!" came Peacekeeper's voice.

"More company!" Thunder called out. "Three Mutons, upper deck! Near your position Overseer!"

Overseer barely had time to turn his head when a couple of plasma shot hit the car he was taking cover behind. The car burst into flames. He quickly dashed out and dived behind a pickup truck beside the car and scrambled to get to the far side of it, away from the burning vehicle. The car exploded shortly after. After making sure that he was behind solid cover, Overseer check on the situation again. It looked bad. His team was basically pinned down by the aliens who had the advantage of high ground.

"Repair drones in sight!" Hex called out. It was to be expected. Each Cyberdisk, like Sectopods will have at least one drone close by. Although the drones were mainly used to repair the Cyberdisks or Sectopods out on the field, they had lasers and can take pot shots at targets. Overseer strained to see where they were. He saw an opportunity as the Cyberdisks hovered just above the tanker.

"Desperado! I need a rocket towards that tanker!" Overseer shouted into the radio. "The rest of you! When it goes, get to better cover and I need suppressing fire so I can scale that billboard to my left and get to higher ground to take them out!"

"Copy that Overseer!"

"Roger!"

"Rocket away!"

A trail of smoke lined its way towards the tanker and exploded. That blew the tanker apart and ignited the fuel inside and a larger explosion resulted. The Cyberdisk that was nearest to the tanker went down as did the drones. The other one was still functioning although it was pretty shredded. Taking advantage of the situation, Overseer dashed from his cover towards the billboard tower at the side of the road. Thunder laid down the suppressing fire to keep the Mutons pinned down. Overseer jumped up the ladder and climbed furiously. About a meter from the top, he saw a Muton lining him up in his gun sights. He saw the plasma rifle fire. Overseer jumped up a couple of rungs. The shot glanced off the right side of his chest plate. The blow almost knocked him off the ladder.

"Fuck!" he shouted through the pain as he struggled to find his footing again. The Muton was preparing to fire again. Overseer was in no position to return fire and the Muton was well covered from his squad members. Overseer used the only thing available to him. His mind. He focused on the Muton and used his psionic ability to invade its mind. He felt the psi link and exerted his control over the alien. The Muton gave a roar and dropped his rifle. Overseer commanded it to shoot at the remaining Cyberdisk as he struggled to get up onto the platform.

The Muton then picked up his rifle and aimed it at the Cyberdisk instead of Overseer. It unleashed a barrage of shots. The Cyberdisk went down to 'friendly fire'. The other Mutons responded by turning their guns at their rogue member and it went down. Overseer took the advantage to quickly off the remaining Mutons.

"What the hell just happened?" Hex called over the radio. "Overseer, are you alright? Saw you took a hit."

"I'm fine. A little bruised but I'm ok," Overseer replied.

"Well I'll be damned!" Rogue chipped in. "The armor does work!"

"Everyone ok?" Overseer said. "Headcount. Call it out."

"Rogue here. I'm ok!"

"Hex. Good as new."

"Peacekeeper here. Cuts and bruises. Otherwise ok!"

"Desperado. I'll live."

"Thunder. A-ok!"

"Great! That was close. Let's secure the area. Watch for stragglers people!" Overseer said, relieved that the squad came through alright.

Half an hour later the area had been secured and they were handing the situation over to the local authorities. Strike One Alpha gathered at the LZ and got ready to leave the area.

Rogue walked past Overseer as she boarded the Skyranger. She tapped Overseer's right thigh with her plasma rifle. "Lost something, sir?" she said grinning.

Overseer looked down and found his pistol holster empty.

"Shit!"


	7. Chapter 7

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 7**

"What is our commander up to?" Bradford asked as he entered the co-ordinates he got from the stolen log into his tablet PC. A little while later he was looking at the Siberian icy wastelands. Dr. Vahlen came from behind and wrapped her arms around his neck as she leaned down for a closer look.

"There's nothing there," she stated.

"Then why is our commander interested in this place?" Bradford asked. He doubled checked the co-ordinates. He got them right. "What else has he been up to?"

"He has been asking for the aliens' autopsy reports lately," Vahlen said as she snuggled closer to Bradford who was sitting at the edge of her bed.

"Autopsy reports?"

"He's been asking whether I think the aliens are clones. That possibility has not occurred to me to be honest. I did a check and he was right. Most of them are clones. Their DNA are almost a perfect copy from one specimen to another. Especially the Mutons and the Floaters. There's only a variance of a few percentages in their DNA. The Ethereals however are unique individuals but we have only a few specimens. There were also some variance in the Sectoid commanders but most of the normal Sectoids are clones."

"Really? I never thought of that either. Clones, huh? That's quite disturbing."

"Commander Lee has also shown a great amount of interest in our Psionic programme. He has been going over all our information that we have gathered from the field on the performance of the new Psi armor," Vahlen said as she planted soft kisses on Bradford's neck.

Bradford ignored Vahlen as he secured an encrypted line out to the internet. He quickly sent off an email and then threw his tablet aside. He turned and grabbed Vahlen's waist and pushed her onto the bed with him on top of her.

"Now. Where were we?" he asked slyly and was greeted by a hard kiss from Vahlen.

###

**3 Weeks later in the Commander's room**

Darius pulled out another report on his terminal as he sat on his desk.

The screen showed:

**Test subject** **: **Zaytsev, Vassili

**Psionic level** **:** Adept user

**Abilities :**

- Mind fray

- Psi panic

- Psi shield

- Mind control

**Field test data:**

Subject was able to use Mind Control over the following aliens with the percentage of success shown in parentheses behind the alien species listed:

- Sectiod foot soldier (70%)

- Sectiod commander (48%)

- Mutons (90%)

- Muton Berserkers (68%)

- Floaters (0%)

- Thin Men (90%)

- Ethereals (0%)

Subject has also displayed an ability to use Mind Fray effectively against the Sectiods, Thin Men and Mutons. Subject was able to demonstrate on at least one occasion that he was able to kill his target using the Mind Fray ability. So far data indicates that subject has to be within visual range of target to be able to use any of his Psionic abilities.

**Notable Side Effects:**

As per other test subjects, this particular test subject has also shown a marked increase in the subject's aggressive behaviour.

**End of Report.**

Darius sighed as he read the last line of the report. He had seen all the video recording on the missions that Major Zaytsev had participated in. Darius had been taken aback by the change he saw as Zaytsev continued to use his Psionic abilities. Zaytsev had always been very careful on missions.

That was one of the main reasons that he was still around and had worked his way up the ranks. But the more he used his psionic abilities, the more arrogant and aggressive he became. It even got to the point that he could dash into the battlefield to search for a target with utter disregard for the squad or his own safety.

Darius recalled the interviews he conducted with Strike One Alpha's members with regards to Zaytsev's behaviour.

"It's not like him anymore," Captain Mary Ryan or better known by her call sign of Rogue had said. "We called him Overseer precisely because he was so concerned about everyone's safety and well-being during missions. Now he just runs off on his own chasing after the Xrays. He seems to take a delight in causing pain on the aliens. I mean they are the enemies but he seems to... to enjoy torturing them, you know? I feel like I don't know him anymore... you know? Ever since he's been using that new... what do they call it.. Psi armor? Yea.. that one. He's got this weird ability to zap these aliens with his mind. I've seen aliens mind controlling some of ours... and now.. he seems to be able to do that to the aliens.. It's freaky! There's this one time I saw him laughing maniacally at a Muton in front of him and then the Muton just dropped dead! Just like that! Look, I know they are the enemies but what's happening to Overseer... it's just not right.. you know. It's not right!"

"I've got no comments, all right?" Captain Kelly Barnes, callsign Hex had said reluctantly in the beginning of her interview. "He does his job and we do ours.. yea.. nothing more... Have I seen any change? Hell, yes.. For one thing he doesn't lose his plasma pistol anymore. He used to but not anymore..Of course, he doesn't need it anymore. He can put those Xrays down better with his ... what.. Jedi mind trick? Yea.. he does that. In fact he does it so well that he doesn't bother taking a pistol with him anymore. That's why he doesn't lose them no more. You know what... I liked it better when he was losing those pistols."

Then there was the discussion he had with Zaytsev himself.

"You want me to stop?" Zaytsev had said when Darius asked him to stop using the Psi Armor. "No way Lee! No way! This is the best thing that has happened since this whole thing started. We can finally give them a taste of their own medicine! You should see the look on their faces when I mind control them and set them on their own kind! It's a shame that not all of us can use this. Else we can win this war, easy!"

Darius had also had a spat with Bradford.

"But everything's going well, why recall them?" Bradford had protested when Darius suggested that they stop using the Psi Armor. "I'm sure the behavior irregularity is a temporary side effect. Besides, our success rates on missions have increased significantly when there are psionically gifted soldiers in the squad. I say we continue the use of the armor."

"The Psi Armor are causing the soldiers to be reckless. You've studied the data. There is a co-relation. We can't risk the soldiers until we can be sure this side effect can be eliminated," Darius had argued.

"We are in a war, commander! There will be risks! If we recall that armor, we will going backwards! We just can't sit around waiting for all the conditions to be perfect to do something!" Bradford had said.

Darius flicked off his terminal and leaned back onto his chair. He stared at the ceiling of his room. So it has been decided. Humanity cannot win this war alone. Compared to the Ethereals, humans are only novices when it comes to Psionic abilities. Darius closed his eyes. He prayed that what he was about to do would be the right thing.

A little while later Darius found himself in front of Cindy Chang's room. He pressed the bell and waited. The door opened momentarily and Cindy's eyes widened when she saw him standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered as she peeked out and checked to see if anyone else saw Darius there. There was no one else but them in the corridor. Cindy quickly pulled Darius inside and closed the door.

"What are you..." she began again but Darius cut the question off with a kiss to her lips. He pulled her close and they shared another passionate kiss. Darius picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He then set her down beside it and undid the sash of her nightgown. He slid the silky gown off her shoulders and it fell into a crumbled heap around her ankles. As Darius planted kisses on her neck and shoulders, she pulled the shirt off him and then helped him out of his track bottom. Darius lifted her again and they both sank into her bed and they started to make love.

"You still haven't told me why you're here," Cindy said softly as she rested her head on his broad shoulders after the sex.

Darius sighed and put his arms around her and pulled her closer. Cindy turned her head to face him and saw him staring up at the ceiling.

"We are fighting a losing war," he said. "I don't see how we can hope to prevail against the Ethereals. Our psionic abilities do not even come close to the level they have achieved. On all fronts, we are at a disadvantage. Governments all around the world are being infiltrated. Our funding decreases by the day. In a matter of months, XCOM will not have enough funds to pay for its expenses much less wage a war against aliens with superior technology."

Cindy remained silent. What Darius said was true.

"What if we can turn back the clock?" Darius said. "What if we can go back an erase a mistake? What do you think?"

"I think that would be great," Cindy replied. "But that can only happen in science fiction… well, not that we are too far from it the way things are now. I'd never thought I'd be witnessing an alien invasion."

"Is time travel a possibility?" Darius asked.

"Hypothetically, it is possible. Einstein himself had said that it may be possible but no one had actually researched it in depth," Cindy replied.

"Remember the Sectiod commander I had a psi link with? They are from a small rebellious group and they are fighting the Ethereals just like us. It showed me a plan. Their plan to stop all of this sounds insane but through all this madness it may the only hope for us. For humanity and for them."

"The Sectiods?" Cindy asked and she felt Darius nodding. "What if it's a plan to trap us?"

"I do not think so. They have given me a lot of info and so far all of it has proven to be accurate and true. What we're seeing now is just the aliens' landing party. Their forward scouts. The main invasion force has yet to come. If the Sectiods are right, their main force should be arriving any day now."

"My God. If that's true how are we going to stop them? We are already having problems dealing with them now," Cindy said and then realized why Darius was there with her. "Are you telling me that you're going with the Sectiod's plan?"

"We don't have any choice. The Ethereals does not mean to eradicate us. They mean to enslave us. To use us for their wars. Like how they are using the Sectiods and the Mutons. If it means we have a chance to escape this fate, I think we have to at least give it a try."

"How do you plan to get the Council to agree?"

"I don't plan to get them to agree. We don't have the time," Darius said with an air of finality. His mind was made up.

"Whatever you do. However you decide. I'll be by your side," Cindy said. Darius held her tightly and kissed her head.

**Meanwhile in Bradford's room**

A repeating beep was heard in the darkness of the room. Bradford turned on his bed and flicked on the bedside lamp. It was his tablet PC. He picked it up and switched on the display. The email icon was flashing. Bradford tapped on the icon and the email app launched. It was from his contact. The reply to his mail he sent a few weeks ago on the co-ordinates in Siberia.

Bradford sat up in his bed, all sleep driven from his mind. He tapped to open the email. His eyes widened as he read the contents. All he needed was the following line in the mail:

Alien presence on site confirmed.

He jumped out of bed and ran to his desk. He switched on his terminal and accessed the Geoscape. He quickly ran a thermal scan on the co-ordinates. The image that greeted him was all the evidence he needed. He quickly compiled the information and put them into an email. It was addressed to the leaders of the Council of XCOM. Bradford would initiate emergency order 139. His time had finally come. This was the perfect opportunity to remove Commander Lee from his post.

Half an hour later, Darius had already changed and headed towards the Mission Control room. He was about an hour early for his shift. He saw Bradford there with a group of internal security forces as he approached the door. None of them noticed his presence. As he neared the door he saw the Geoscape display. Darius stopped in his tracks. On the globe was a flashing yellow icon. The place where the icon was flashing is Siberia. Almost at once Darius knew that somehow, someone got wind of the alien base buried under the ground. The security forces were meant for him. That means that he was now considered a traitor and they would be trying to arrest him. He quickly turned and walked back to the elevator. He punched the level for the residential dorms.

A few minutes later he was back at Cindy's room. "They are out to get me!" he told her. "I need your help!"

"Who? Who's out to get you? What's going on?" Cindy asked frantically.

"Bradford!" Darius said. "I need to use the Gollop Chamber! I must warn the Sectoid commander!"

Cindy rushed to her drawer and took out her access card. She pushed it into Darius' hand. "Take it. You'll be able to open the doors to the chamber. I do not think there's anyone there. We've no candidates ready to use the Psi Link device anyway. Do what you need to do!"

"I love you, Cindy! I'm sorry it had to turn out this way," Darius said.

Cindy pushed him away. "Just go! They will be here any minute!"

Darius gave her a quick kiss. Clutching Cindy's access card he went to the door. He opened it a crack and looked outside. After making sure that no one was there, he quickly went out and closed the door behind him.

"I love you too, Darius," Cindy whispered, tears flowing down her cheeks.

**In the Mission Control Room**

"There is an underground alien base at this location," Bradford said into the radio. "We have found that there are ventilation vents that will lead down to it. I will forward the information to the strike teams' wrist-com. This is our chance to hit them where it hurts! I need you guys to eliminate all the aliens down there! This will be our first step to winning this war! Best of luck strike teams!"

On the Geoscape display, 2 Skyranger icons appeared over the XCOM base and headed towards the alien base for the attack. Bradford glanced at it. Satisfied with the status he turned towards a team of internal security forces.

"Now, I want Darius Lee arrested and put into the brig!" he ordered the team leader. "This is emergency order 139! Darius Lee is in collaboration with the aliens. The council has been alerted and they have authorized the removal of the commander rank from Darius Lee. I will be the acting commander of XCOM until the situation has been resolved, do you understand?" he said.

The team of four internal security force stood at attention. "Yes, sir!" the team leader replied and then ran off to execute the order. Just as they exited, Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Shen walked into Mission Control. Both of them looked up at the Geoscape display.

"Ah! Dr. Shen and Dr. Vahlen," Bradford greeted as they joined him on the viewing platform. "You're just in time to witness the turning point of this war! We have found their base of operations and I have dispatched the strike teams to assault it. Your presence is required should the teams encounter anything that they are unfamiliar with. You two will be the technical consultants to assist them in any way you can."

###

Darius went into the Gollop Chamber and closed the door. Cindy was right, there was no one around. He made a beeline towards the Psi Link device and activated it immediately. A brief moment later he was linked with the Sectoid commander.

"Hello again human," the Sectoid greeted. "We hope that you are agreeable to our plan."

"Hello. I come with a warning," Darius replied. "As we speak, there are others of my kind that is headed towards your base with the intention of assaulting it. Reluctantly I am agreeable to your plan but we must move fast! Here is my suggestion!" Darius said and shared his intentions with the Sectoid leader.

**Back in Mission Control**

"Sir!" one of console operator called out. "There has been a spike in power in the Gollop Chamber for the past 2 minutes. Seems like there was a release of psionic energy."

"What? Is there any experiments going on down there?" Bradford asked turning to Vahlen. She shook her head. Bradford immediately hit a button on his radio. "Security team! This is acting commander Bradford. Head down to the Gollop Chamber. I have a feeling that Lee is there!"

"UFO sighting, sir!" another operator called out. On the Geoscape a couple of new icons appeared. "They are coming from the vicinity of the Siberian alien base sir!"

"Scramble interceptors!" Bradford ordered. "I want them shot down! We can't let them escape!"

A short while later a few new blips appeared on the Geoscape as XCOM scrambled their fighters to intercept. All eyes fell on the Geoscape display as the icons neared one another.

"Fighters have engaged the bogeys," one of the operators reported. On the display three green icons closed in on the two red UFO. A while later one of the green dots vanished from the display.

"One of our fighters has been hit! Pilot has ejected!"

The two remaining green icons continued the interception. A while later the two red UFO icons vanished from the display.

"Bogeys down. The UFOs have been shot down! Repeat UFOs have been shot down!" There were cheers and clapping.

"Sir! Do we send in a ground strike team?" the operator asked.

Bradford frowned. "Which teams are available?" he asked.

"Ranger teams, sir!" the operator replied. Ranger teams were the rookie teams. Their call signs Ranger stems from the alphabet R that means Reserve teams.

"Send Ranger 1 and 2!" Bradford decided.

"Yes, sir!" the operator replied and relayed the instructions.

Just then a radio communication came through to Bradford. "Sir! We've searched the Gollop Chamber. No one's here sir!"

Bradford slammed a fist down on the railing of the viewing platform. "Search the base! He's got to be here somewhere!"

"Sir! We've detected another UFO! Origin, Siberia alien base!"

"What? Damn! Turn the interceptors around! I want that one down too!" Bradford asked.

"Negative sir! The interceptors are low on fuel," came the reply.

"Shit!" Bradford cursed. They watched as the red icon inched away from the Siberian base towards the north pole and finally vanished from the display as it went out of range of their satellites. The silence in Mission Control was deafening.

"What's the location of the Skyrangers 1 and 2?" Bradford asked after a while.

"Twenty minutes from alien base, sir."

"What about the Ranger teams?"

"Just about to take off in Skyranger 3, sir."

A beep went off in Bradford's radio headset. He pressed the switch. "What now?" he asked angrily.

"Sir! We've apprehended Darius Lee. He was in his room. We're taking him to the brig," the leader of security team reported.

"I'll meet you there!" Bradford said into the radio and took off the headset. "Lieutenant Stanley. You have Mission Control!" he said as he walked out in a huff.


	8. Chapter 8

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 8**

Darius sat on the cold metal bench attached to the wall in his cell. He had given himself up without a fight. All he hoped for now is that his plan will work. He waited for Bradford to arrive and indeed Bradford showed just a few moments later. From his face, Darius could tell that he was angry. That was a good first sign.

"Lee!" he yelled. "What have you leaked to the aliens? How did you contact them?" he went on.

Darius stayed silent, keeping his eyes on Bradford. His silence drew Bradford's ire even more.

"Open the door!" he ordered and the guard instantly jumped into action and unlocked the cell door. Bradford stormed inside and grabbed Darius by his collar and dragged him to his feet.

"How did the aliens know we were coming?" Bradford shouted into his face. "You can use psionics, can't you?"

Darius remained silent. Bradford's outburst told him all he needed to know for now. The first part of his plan worked.

Bradford shook Lee violently. "Talk to me, dammit!" he shouted but got no verbal response from Darius. Bradford then threw a punch that caught Darius in the jaw. The blow sent Darius back onto the bench. A salty taste invaded Darius' mouth with the sting of the punch. Darius wiped the blood away from his mouth with the back of a hand but he remained silent. This enraged Bradford even more and he came at Darius and threw a few more punches. Darius held up his arms to ward off the blows. Then a knee came up and caught Darius square on the nose. He slumped onto the ground as blood flowed out his broken nose.

"Sir!" the guard called out upon seeing the assault. That one word stopped Bradford's attack. He turned and left Darius' cell. The guard locked the door again after Bradford stepped out.

"Has he said anything?" Bradford asked the guard.

"No, sir! Not a word since we arrested him. Never even resisted," the guard informed.

**Five hours later**

Bradford looked over the reports from the alien base assault in his office. It was as he had feared. Token resistance noted. Bradford checked the list of aliens killed in the encounter.

A dozen Mutons. Three Muton Berserkers. Half a dozen Sectoids. A couple of Cyberdisks. A dozen Chrysallids. Bradford noted that there were no mention of any Sectoid commanders or Ethereals. He pulled up the reports from the Ranger teams. Same results. Token resistance. Half a dozen Sectoids in each of the downed UFOs.

Bradford slammed his fist onto his desk and leaned back into his chair. This will not make a good impression as his first report to the XCOM Council as acting Commander. The aliens that mattered had gotten away on the UFO they were unable to intercept. His only consolation was that they had recovered a large number of artifacts from the base. Including some they have not seen before. Apparently the aliens had not have time to pack. The crew was still unloading all the recovered artifacts in the hangar.

**In the detention block**

Cindy stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the entrance of the detention block. 2 guards were posted at the doors. They diverted their attention to her as she walked slowly but purposefully towards them carrying a metallic briefcase.

"Can we help you, ma'am?" one of the guards asked as Cindy approached the doors.

"Yes," Cindy replied calmly. Inside she was all jittery. "I am here to run some tests on the prisoner, Darius Lee. Under orders from acting Commander Bradford."

"We're not notified of any tests," the other guard said.

"I am notifying you now," Cindy replied, her voice non-threatening. The guards gave each other a glance, unsure of what to do.

"Why don't you show me what you have in the briefcase, while my colleague here call our CO to verify the orders," the first guard said.

"Certainly," Cindy said as she set the briefcase on the ground and flipped the latches. Her actions and the fact she was wearing a lab coat and all alone brought some measure of relief to the guards and they relaxed a bit. Cindy opened the briefcase and took out a strange looking device. It looked like a reader or scanner of some sort. Nothing like a weapon.

"What the hell is that? Some sort of scanner?" the first guard remarked. Cindy smiled. He turned to his colleague. "I guess it's fine, but verify it anyway," he said.

"This is an Arc Thrower," Cindy said calmly as she casually held it out. "Want to see how it functions?" she said as she fiddled with some switches and the small LED displayed some figures. As the guards leaned closer to see what's being displayed, Cindy pressed the trigger and a flash of electricity came from the device, immediately stunning the guards. They fell to the ground unconscious. "It's what the strike teams use to stun aliens you dolts!" Cindy said in a whisper to the now blacked out guards. She quickly entered the door. As she was making her way into the detention center another guard came out from the holding area after noticing the noise outside.

"Thank God!" Cindy called out as she hid the Arc Thrower behind her. "The guards out front just collapsed. Could you help me check on them?"

The new guard nodded and quickly headed to the door. As he passed Cindy, she held out the Arc Thrower and pressed the trigger again. The guard collapsed into a heap on the floor. Cindy quickly grabbed the guard's access pass and ran into the holding area. She saw Darius there and quickly unlocked the cell. As Darius came out she threw herself into his arms.

"Great work, Cindy! I'm proud of you!" Darius said as he embraced her. "Quickly now! Prep the Gollop Chamber while I go and escort our guests there!"

Cindy merely nodded as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. She gave him a quick kiss and rushed out the door again.

Darius went out and changed into one of the unconscious guard's uniform. He then dragged all three of them inside the cell he had just occupied and locked them in. Picking up one of their assault rifles he went towards the elevator and punched the button for the hangar. The elevator door opened and he could see a large number of workers there in the hangar, busy unloading the Skyrangers that had returned with all the recovered artifacts. He pulled his cap low to hide his face and walked out into the hangar.

Darius scanned the cargo. He then found what he was looking for. 3 medium sized crates made of alien alloy and one rather unusual device they have never encountered before. Walking towards the crates he enlisted the help of a few of the workers there.

"Hey, bro!" he called out to the nearest worker. As the worker turned around Darius walked up to him. "Could you and your buddies there help me with these crates? The research team wants these down in that newly built chamber," Darius said pointing to the crates he needed.

"Sure thing," the worker said and got 3 of his colleagues to help him. Darius went to assist too and they managed to get all four items into the elevator without attracting unwanted attention. When Darius got the crates into the Gollop Chamber, Cindy was already there. Darius thanked the workers and sent them back to the hangar. He then walked close to the crates and paused in front of them. Reaching out with his psionic powers he relayed the message that it's safe.

The crates hissed and on one side, the seemingly seamless surface opened to reveal a hollow space inside. 3 Sectoids emerged from them. One of them had an enlarged head. The Sectoid commander. Cindy let out a gasp as she saw them. She had not really seen a live alien before.

"It's okay!" Darius reassured. They will set up the Psi Link device to their temporal device. We need to get to the Elerium generator and divert the needed power here. Come on, let's go!"

Cindy gave the Sectoids a wide berth as she crossed the chamber towards Darius. She saw the Sectoid commander staring at Darius. They were communicating telepathically. Darius nodded after a while and turned to leave. Just before she followed Darius, Cindy caught the Sectiod's eyes for a second. They seemed sad. Then the Sectiod commander turned and busied himself with the preparations.

**Meanwhile in Mission Control**

The operator checked the readings on his console.

"That can't be right," he muttered under his breath as his hand skipped over the keyboard to punch in some commands. He double checked the readings.

"Uhh.. Lt. Stanley," he called out to the Officer on duty. "You'd better come see this!"

Stanley walked over to the console and leaned over to check the screen. The scanner programme had picked up some psionic energy reading. The energy signature matched those that they pick up from the alien UFOs. Only thing was that this reading showed that the origin of the signal was coming from the Ant Farm.

"Can you pinpoint the exact location?" Stanley asked, alarmed.

"I'll do my best, sir!" the officer replied and worked furiously on his console. A while later he said, "It's coming from the Gollop Chamber!"

"Can someone put the close circuit cameras on the Gollop Chamber onto the main screen?" Stanley ordered.

"On it!" someone replied. A brief pause later, the Geoscape globe disappeared and the video feed from the cameras in the Gollop Chamber came online. 3 figures could be seen in the chamber working on the Psi Link device.

"Alert Commander Bradford!" Stanley yelled.

###

The emergency beeper on Bradford's smartphone went off. He fished it out of his pocket and jabbed at it. Stanley's face came on. "What is it, Stanley?" he asked.

"Your presence is required at Mission Control! Code yellow!" Stanley said tersely.

"On my way! Get Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Shen too!" Bradford ordered as he dashed out of his room.

Meanwhile in the barracks, the emergency beepers on squad Strike One Alpha went off at the same time. The members scrambled to get to the armoury.

Bradford arrived at Mission Control a few minutes later. Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Shen were already there and they were looking at the display. Bradford could not believe his eyes. He was looking at 3 Sectoids working furiously in the Gollop Chamber.

"How in the hell did that happen?" he cursed. No one had an answer. "Where's the strike team?"

"They are in the armoury, prepping for action," Stanley advised.

"Patch me through to them!" Bradford ordered.

"Strike One Alpha! This is commander Bradford. We have a code yellow. Repeat code yellow. Xrays found in the Gollop Chamber. I need you to go down there and secure the level. Count is three so far but it's unknown if there are any more. You are now cleared to engage!"

"Copy that, sir!" came Major Zatysev's voice.

"Sound the general alert on the base! I want it locked down!" Bradford ordered.

Almost instantly the alert siren sounded all through the XCOM base along with flashing yellow alert lights in all corridors. An automated female voice repeatedly announced: "Yellow alert issued. All non-military personnel are advised to stay in their rooms or their designated working facilities. Clear all the corridors and the cafeteria immediately."

As Strike One Alpha's squad cams came into the main display, another console operator requested attention.

"What is it now?" Bradford asked irritated.

"You'd better take a look, sir!" the operator said in a panicky voice and the Geoscape globe came back on. Everyone's eyes widened when the saw what is on display.

There somewhere in the southern hemisphere over the Atlantic a gigantic mass was detected entering the atmosphere. The image was lined in red, indicating that it was a UFO. The only thing was that this UFO was roughly the size of the island of Madagascar. It descended slowly and then hovered about one kilometer above the ocean.

"Energy signature consistent with the other UFOs!"

"Energy levels are off the charts!"

The secure phone line to Mission Control began flashing. Bradford knew that this was the council calling. He had no answer to this threat. He doubted that anyone else had.

"Mein gott! Look at the size of that thing!" Dr. Vahlen said incredulously. "How did they manage to fly such a large object!"

Dr. Shen looked over to Vahlen. He shook his head. Even now, she's still thinking about the scientific aspect of what they were looking at. Dr. Shen turned his attention back to the display. "So, this is how humanity's civilization ends," he said to himself and then walked out of Mission Control.


	9. Chapter 9

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 9**

Down two levels, Darius and Cindy were working furiously at the terminal inside the Elerium Generator. The yellow alert lights flashed and the siren went off.

"They have found the Sectoids!" Darius said. "We need to hurry!"

"I'm trying my best!" Cindy replied. "I'm no hacker and this security system is impenetrable!" She was trying hard to hack into the Elerium generator control system in order to channel power to the Gollop chamber.

"We don't have much time!" Darius announced after a pause. "They will be sending the strike team!"

"I... I can't! I just can't!" Cindy answered frantically. "I can't breach the security program!"

Just then the doors to the Elerium Generator opened. Dr. Shen walked in and stopped when he saw Darius and Cindy there.

"Commander Lee! Cindy!" he said a little surprised.

"Dr. Shen!" Darius said. "I'm no longer your commander but I need your help! We need to divert power to the Gollop Chamber!"

"The Gollop Chamber? It was you? You're the one who brought the Sectoids?" Dr. Shen asked as he considered the implication of that action.

"Yes! There's no time to explain. Please! Would you help us? Humanity's only chance may rest on your decision!" Darius pleaded, looking earnestly at the old gentleman.

Dr. Shen considered the plea for a while. Then he looked right at Darius' eyes and nodded. He approached the terminal and keyed in his access code. The code was accepted and they had control of the generator. "How much power do you need?" Dr. Shen asked.

"All of it!" Darius said.

Dr. Shen nodded. "You shall have it," he replied as he punched the commands into the terminal. "Hurry now! The strike team is already making its way to the chamber," he continued almost nonchalantly.

"Thank you, Dr. Shen!" Darius said as he prepared to leave.

Dr. Shen smiled at him. "When science fails, one has to fall back on faith. Now go," he said and turned his attention back to the terminal.

"I'm coming with you!" Cindy said as she followed Darius.

"No. Stay here with Dr. Shen," Darius said. "It'll be safer here."

"But what about you?"

Darius had no answer for that. He merely smiled at her and gently stroked her left cheek but his eyes betrayed him. Tears streamed down Cindy's face and she embraced him tightly and then he was gone, running towards the exit.

**Mission Control**

The alien invasion had finally shifted into full gear. Never in his wildest dream had Bradford thought that such a scale of mobile craft was possible and now he was looking at one that can fly through space. The worst thing was that it was the enemy. Bradford stood there on the viewing platform, stunned at what he was seeing.

Another alert sounded and more icons started appearing on the Geoscape. Multiple UFO contacts were detected across the globe. These were the normal large UFOs that XCOM had seen before but they were coming from outer space and descending through the atmosphere. There was at least one above every continent. One of them was coming down directly above the Ant Farm.

"Commander Bradford!" Stanley almost yelled, barely able to contain his rising panic. "What are your orders?"

Bradford looked around Mission Control. All eyes were on him.

"Scramble interceptors! Arm them with nuclear warheads!" he said.

"Sir?" Stanley asked, not wanting to believe what he had just heard.

"You heard me! Hit that thing with the nukes! This is the doomsdays scenario! If that thing doesn't go down, we will!"

"Launch interceptors! Nuclear strike authorized! I repeat. Nuclear strike authorized!" Stanley relayed the command.

**In the Hangar**

The siren wailed. The exit hatch above the jet opened as the platform the jet was on began to tilt upwards towards the opening. Plumes of fire gushed out from the jet's powerful twin engine as the platform rose. The platform came to a rest pointing almost straight up. The pilot gave the hangar a last look around. All of the ground crew was saluting. He returned the salute and hit the release button. The jet shot out of the underground hangar like an arrow carrying its deadly payload with it.

Another similar jet took off shortly after the first one and the two jets roared towards their target.

"Central, this is Raven leader," the pilot reported. "Raven-1 and Raven-2 is away. Commencing strike on alien craft. Missile launch in 4 minutes!"

"Copy that Raven leader," Stanley replied. "May God bless us all!"

The secure line from the Council flashed. Bradford considered whether to take the call. Before he can decide a console operator call cut off his train of thought.

"Registering a massive buildup of energy on alien craft! It's incredible!"

Bradford eyes locked on to the Geoscape but the display showed nothing. "Give me satellite image!" he ordered and the globe disappeared and an aerial view from above the alien craft came on. The image showed that something at the center of the craft was glowing ever brighter. "What the hell was that?" Bradford asked.

Just then one of the operators called out, "Interceptors have been shot down! They were hit by the UFO above us!"

Then the whole base shook. Screams were heard coming from some of the officers. The lights flickered and dust and dirt fell from above.

"Sir! The UFO above us is firing plasma cannon shots at us! They know we're here!" one operator reported. The UFO stopped firing after the first shot. A warning shot.

Bradford collapsed onto his chair. The light on the secure line was still flashing. Bradford reached for receiver and picked up the call.

"No. We don't have anything that can match what you just saw," Bradford said into the phone. The council was on the other end. "We'll just have to respond as the situation allows. I suggest that all nations prepare their own contingency," Bradford said almost in a monotone and cut the line. XCOM was not prepared for this. Earth was not prepared for this. He slumped back into the chair on the viewing platform, looking at the Geoscape. The secure line flashed again. Bradford did not bother to pick up.

"What do we do sir?" Stanley asked.

"I don't know... what can we do?" Bradford asked as his eyes met Stanley's genuinely looking for an answer that none of them had. Then the lights went out and the emergency lights flicked on. The main power was out. Mission control was now running under backup generators.

**Strike One Alpha.**

The base shook. The squad braced themselves in front of the elevator and waited for the shaking to pass.

"What the hell was that?" Rogue exclaimed when the tremors ceased.

"Nothing that concerns us!" Overseer said. "We've got a mission and that's what we're going to complete." He jabbed at the button but the lights were out. Then the corridor lights went off. The emergency lights came on.

"Power's out!" Desperado said looking around the darkened corridors.

"I guess that rules out the elevator," Hex chipped in.

"The stairs then," Overseer said and led the way to the stairwell to go down to the deepest level.

After a few minutes of going down flights of stairs, Strike One Alpha finally reached the lowest level. The door leading to the exit was in front of them. Overseer walked right up to the door and threw it open, throwing caution to the wind. Outside, the main lights were still on.

"Well, well, well. Whatdya know? Power's still on down here!" Overseer said as he walked confidently out to the main corridor.

As Overseer turned into the main corridor, he saw Darius standing in full view in front of the doors to the chamber. The two soldiers faced each other. The rest of the squad came through and stopped behind Overseer.

"Commander Lee?" Rogue said in surprise.

"He's no longer in command. He's a fugitive now!" Overseer replied as he raised his plasma sniper rifle. "Lee! Stand down now! Let us through and you will not be harmed! We need access to the chamber!" Overseer ordered.

"I can't do that Vassili!" Darius replied. His assault rifle was slung across his shoulders and he held up his hands in a sign of surrender. In one of them was his tablet PC. "You need to know what's going on. Here. I'm going to slide you this tablet. Take a look!" Darius slowly bent down and slid the tablet across the floor towards Overseer. It came to a rest near his right foot.

Overseer did not take his eyes off Darius. He kept the rifle trained on Darius. "Rogue. Check it out!" he ordered.

Rogue picked up the tablet. On it was the Geoscape app. Rogue took one look and gasped. "Oh...my...God..." she said slowly. She passed the tablet to Hex and quickly checked her wrist-com. The display was the same.

"This is so not happening!" Peacekeeper said after she saw the huge Temple Ship and the other UFOs across the globe. She started pacing to and fro, unsure of what to think or do.

"Is this a trick?" Desperado asked, unsure. He looked at his squad members, searching for an answer. Looking for someone to re-assure him but none of them could.

Overseer decided to check out the tablet. He took the tablet from Thunder and glanced at it. When he saw the display his eyes shot back to Darius. "What's the meaning of this?" he demanded.

"That's the biggest fucking UFO I ever saw!" Hex said. "We don't have anything that even comes close to it! What does this mean? Huh? Game over?" she said throwing her arms up in the air.

"You can check with Mission Control," Darius said. "And you're right Captain Barnes. We ain't got nothing against that. Mankind has lost the war. We never had a chance. We were all doomed the moment this started."

"That's why you're working with them now, Lee?" Overseer asked raising his rifle again. "Huh? Is that it? You gonna secure a ticket for yourself? Outta this hell? Is that it?"

"No, Vassili. You've got it all wrong! I'm not trying to buy my way out of this. Our time has come. But in there," Darius said pointing inside the chamber. "In there may be hope for humanity yet. The Sectoids. They suffered the same fate. The Ethereals conquered their world before they came here to Earth."

"So what are they gonna do? Huh? Lee? What are they gonna do? They have some miracle device to make this all go away?" Overseer asked.

"Short answer, maybe," Darius said. "They will attempt to go back in time and stop this before it all starts."

"Haha! Time machine? We're all fucked!" Peacekeeper interrupted, growing more and more frantic. Suddenly she stopped pacing and pulled out her plasma pistol. She raised it to her head. "Been an honor serving with you guys!" she said and pulled the trigger.

The blast caught all of them by surprise. Overseer lowered his rifle and turned around.

"No!" Rogue yelled and caught her body before it fell to the ground. She laid Peacekeeper down and quickly pulled out her medi-kit. Thunder had to pull her away. Rogue struggled against him.

"She's gone, Rogue! She's gone!" Thunder said dragging Rogue away from the body. Rogue collapsed into his arms sobbing.

"Shit!" Desperado said faltering a few steps backwards. "It's not supposed to end this way!"

"I'm not listening to all this crazy talk!" Overseer yelled in anger as he turned around to face Darius again while raising his rifle.

Darius ducked into the chamber as the plasma shot zapped past, missing him by inches. Overseer ran towards the chamber after Darius. The other squad members stood rooted. They weren't sure what was right anymore. The team looked to Rogue as she was the most senior after Overseer. Rogue just shook her head as the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Overseer barged into the chamber. He saw Darius taking cover behind some alien crates. Ten meters behind him the Sectiods were furiously working on two devices; one of which was the Psi-Link device. They were ignoring the commotion in front of the chamber. Overseer headed to crouch behind one of the consoles.

Outside, over the Atlantic Ocean, the beacon of charging energy on the Temple Ship began to pulse. Across the globe, all the other UFOs relayed the signal coming from the Temple Ship. It was a psionic wave. All over the world, human resistance towards the invaders began to stop.

Down at the Ant Farm, Rogue, Hex, Desperado and Thunder clutched at their heads and fell to the ground screaming. After struggling for a while, they stopped screaming and their faces became expressionless.

Inside the Gollop Chamber, both Darius and Overseer sensed the psionic attempt to control their minds. Darius winced. He focused his psionic energy and erected a mind shield against the attack. He glanced at the Sectoids. They seemed to be unaffected. The attack was aimed only at humans.

Overseer grimaced under the psionic attack but he too was able to put up a mind shield using his psionic abilities. He shook his head to clear it.

"Vassili! Listen to me! Give it a chance!" Darius called out. "They have lost everything. Just like we are losing everything as we speak. If their plan has any chance of success, don't you think humanity deserves the chance?"

"What if it's all a lie, Lee? What if they are just building a bomb to take the base out?"

Darius had to chuckle at the comment. "Vassili. Did you see the size of that ship hovering just over the Atlantic? Did you feel that psionic attack just now? What difference does it make? We're screwed either way. I trust that they are trying as hard to save their world as much as we are trying to save ours. It's too late for us and for the Sectoids in this time period. If they could make it back and prevent all this from taking place, I think that's a better choice than what we have now!"

Suddenly from behind Darius, the devices hummed to life. The lights flickered as the device sucked up the power and then a portal opened.

"It is done!" came the psionic voice of the Sectiod commander. "The temporal portal is opened. Will you do the honors or shall we go?"

"You see that, Vassili?" Darius called out. "They have opened the portal back in time!"

Overseer peered over the console. He saw a fluctuating energy field. "If I'm going to my grave, I'm sure as hell taking as many of them Xrays down with me!" he shouted angrily and lashed out with his mind. One of the Sectoids shrieked and fell over. Dead. Overseer prepared to lash out again at the second one.

"No!" Darius yelled.

Overseer lashed out again with his mind but this time he felt his attack being stopped. It was Darius. He was in his mind preventing him from using his Mind Fray attack.

"Get out of my head!" Overseer screamed as he ran out from his cover in an attempt to flank Darius.

Darius commanded the Sectiod commander to go through the portal psionically as he fired his assault rifle in Overseer's direction in an effort to pin him down. The Sectoid commander and his remaining Sectoid ally picked up two explosives and ran towards the portal.

Overseer dived behind another console. He saw that he had a line of sight to the Sectoids but they were moving towards the portal. His mind raced to find a way to stop them. He saw the explosives. Overseer brought his sniper rifle to bear and aimed it at the explosive the Sectoid commander was carrying. He squeezed the trigger. The plasma shot raced towards its target. Darius jumped and threw his own body across the line of fire, shielding the Sectoid commander as it leapt through the portal. The plasma shot caught Darius in the chest and he crashed to the ground.

Overseer saw Darius blocking the shot. His eyes widened. Was Darius that convinced that he could lay down his life for the plan to succeed? Darius had psionic abilities so the aliens could not have mind controlled him. Then it hit him. Darius was right. If there was any chance at all. Any glimmer of hope, however tiny, it was better than none.

"What have I done?" Overseer said. He threw down his rifle and ran towards Darius.

Darius's vision began to dim as his life slipped away. He saw the Sectoids successfully going through the portal as it closed. He closed his eyes and waited for the end when he felt someone cradling him. With a great effort he opened his eyes again and found he was looking up at Vassili. The squad leader was saying something but he could not hear it. Darius managed a weak smile. Then all turned to darkness.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Here it is, the final chapter of this story. Thank you for reading. I hope that you have enjoyed the story. Do feel free to drop any comments or reviews. I have kind of stopped playing the game so I don't think I will be writing much of the XCOM universe for a while.

Here's hoping that you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Thanks again!

**Counter Clockwise**

**Chapter 10**

The dark void seemed endless. There was nothing. Only emptiness. He had been floating around in the dark void in what seem like an eternity. Suddenly a voice can be heard.

"Darius! Darius!" the voice went.

Then a light. As he focused on the light it materialized into a room. The room was dark. Probably night time. Night light.

"Darius! Wake up!" the voice continued. Darius. That was his name. The voice. It was familiar and female.

Darius focused on the voice and a face came into view. He was in a room. A very nice room. With a very nice bed. Warm and comfortable. He was lying on the bed looking up at a female sitting on the same bed looking down at him.

Cindy. The name came to his mind. He knew this female.

"Cindy? What.. what happened?" he said, his mind still groggy.

"You're having a nightmare," Cindy said. "Tossing and turning. I have half a mind to send you out to sleep on the couch!" she complained as she settled back down to sleep.

"What time is it?" he asked as he sat up. His eyes found a digital clock. The display showed 2.39am, Nov. 07 2062.

"Two in the morning!" Cindy said testily.

"I had the strangest dream!" Darius said. "Something about aliens and they were invading earth!"

"You've been watching too many of those UFO conspiracy documentaries. Go back to sleep, dear. I've got to work tomorrow. Vahlen Technologies are not too kind on employees that are late!"

"Vahlen Technologies? You mean Dr. Vahlen?" Darius asked.

"The founder of the company, yes. And my boss, remember?" Cindy said lazily as she curled up under the sheets.

Darius got out of bed and walked towards the window. He parted the curtains a little to look outside. It was a beautiful night. The stars were shining brightly in the clear night sky in the beautiful suburb. Darius did not know what overcame him but the peaceful sight brought tears to his eyes.

"Not coming to bed, baby?" Cindy said from the bed.

"I'll stay up for a while," he said, still looking out of the window. Cindy murmured a reply and dozed off.

After a while he walked over to the desk and saw a tablet PC on it. It was his. He turned it on and the email icon had the new email sign on it. He tapped on it. The email list appeared. There on top of the list was one unread email. The sender was V. Zaytsev.

"Vassili!" Darius whispered. His long time friend. He tapped on the mail to open it.

Don't forget. Bowling night is tomorrow! Meet you at the lanes.

That was the only sentence. Darius smiled at the email. Everything was alright with the world.

###

**July 8, 1947**

A lone UFO was about to take off into the night sky in the desert grass plains. As it lifted off the ground and gained altitude, an energy fluctuation occurred inside the bridge of the craft. A portal opened and 2 Sectoids jumped through. The Ethereal pilot was taken fully by surprise. Before he could react, the Sectoids armed their explosive devices. One headed for the computers databanks on the bridge and the other threw the bomb at the Ethereal. The explosion was large and ripped the UFO apart. Nothing much was left of the wreck as burning debris fell to the ground. Without the information from this scouting craft, the Ethereals would never develop psionic abilities. Without psionic abilities, they would never be able to conquer the Sectiods. The wreck burned for a while but as the night progressed, the fire eventually died and calm returned to the plains.

The crash was near the town of Roswell, New Mexico.

**THE END.**


End file.
